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A COLLECTION MADE BY 

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AND BEQUEATHED TO 
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THE 

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN 

PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY. 



VOLUME XVI. 




< 

o 
o 
u 

2 



SELECTIONS FROM TEE KUMK 



BY 

EDWAED WILLIAM LANE, 

HON. DOCTOR OP LITERATURE, LEYDEN , 

CORRESPONDENT OP THE INSTITnTE OF FRANCE ; 

HON. MEMBER OF THE GERMAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY, THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 

THE EOYAL SOCHTTY OF LITERATUEE, ETC. ; 

AUTHOR OP "THE MODERN EGYPTIANS," AND "AN ARABIC-ENGLISH LEXICON;" 

TRANSLATOR OP "THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS." 



a ^tia CR)iti0n, 3Jv£&iS£i( ant ffinlarseb, 

IVITH AN INTRODUCTION, 
BY 

STANLEY LANE POOLE. 



BOSTON: 

HOUGHTON, OSGOOD, & COMPANY. 

1879. 



PREFACE 



Theke are several translations of the Kur-an in several 
langnages ; hut there axe very fe-\v people ■who have the 
strength of mind to read any of them through. The 
chaotic arrangement and frequent repetitions, and the 
obscurity of the Language, are sufficient to deter the most 
persistent reader, whilst the nature of a part of its contents 
renders the Elur-an unfit for a woman's eye. 

Tet there alvravs has been a ■v^ish to know something 
i.toui the sacred book of the Mohammadans. and it was 
with the design of satisfying this wish, whilst avoiding 
the weariness and the disgust which a complete perusal 
of the Kuivin must produce, that Mr. Lane arranged the 
• Selections " which were published in 1S43. In spite of 
many printer's errors, due to the author's absence from 
England, the book was so far successful that the edition 
was exhausted, and it is now A'cry difficult to obtain 
a copv. But p,<irtly owiag to the obstructions to the 
reading offered by an interwoven native commentary, 
and partly by reason of the preference shown for the 
doctrinal over the poetical passages, the book went 
into schoLirs' hands r.\ther th;in into the libraries of 



V! PREFACE. 

the general reading public. Ifc has proved of con- 
siderable service to students of Arabic, who have found 
it the most accurate rendoring in existence of a large part 
of the Kur-an; and even native Muslims of India, ignorant 
of Arabic, have used Lane's ' Selections' as their r.ilili^ 

In this oditioii I have endeavoured rather to cariy out 
the original intention of the translator. Ikperience has 
shown that the first plan was over-learned to conimcud 
itself to the average reath^r, for whom Mr. Lane had 
destined the book; in this edition I have therefore 
omitted many of the notes, which will not be missed 
by the reader for whom the book is intended, and for 
which the Arabic scholar has only to refer to the lirst 
edition, or to Sale's Koran, whence most of them were 
derived. Again, the text of the first edition waH (jbscured 
and interrupted by an interwoven commentary, which 
destroyed the pleasure of the language and often made the 
meaning less intelligible than before. This commentary 
has been thinned. Where it added nothing to the text, it 
has been erased; where it gave a curious or valuable c!x- 
planation, it has been thrown into a footnote ; where it 
merely supplied a necessary word to complete the sense, 
that word has been left in the text distinguished by a dif- 
ferent type.i Once more, the early and wilder soorahs 
were almost wholly omitted in the first edition, whilst 
the later more dogmatic and less ])outical soorahs were 
perhaps too fully represented. I have endeavoured to 
establish the balance between the two. 

' .See prefatory note, p. 2. 



PREFACE. vii 

In this edition the Selections are divided into two parts. 
The first is Islam ; the second, other religions as regarded 
in Islam. In the first are grouped, under distinctive 
headings, the more important utterances of Mohammad on 
vrhat his followers must believe and do ; in the second are 
his versions of the history of the patriarchs and other per- 
sonages of the Jewish and Christian writings. 

It is only in the First Part that I have made much alter- 
ation, either by adding fresh extracts (distinguished by a 
sign), or by making a few merely verbal alterations in the 
original extracts, or by the suppression or transposition of 
the commentary. Any alterations that go beyond this — 
new renderings, for instance — are duly recorded in the 
footnotes. 

The Second Part is almost unchanged from the first 
edition. In this part the interwoven commentary is left 
entire, for the traditions of the commentators about Abra- 
ham and Moses and Christ are as curious as the traditions 
of Mohammad, and about as credible ; and the narrative 
style of the Second Part allows the introduction of paren- 
theses more easily than the rhetorical form which many 
of the extracts in the First Part present. 

Mr. Lane's Introduction was abridged from Sale's Pre- 
liminary Discourse, with but little addition from his own 
knowledge. Sale's Discourse abounds in information, but 
it is too detailed and lengthy for the purpose of this 
volume. I have, then, substituted a short sketch of the 
beginnings of Islam. I have tried to bring home to the 
reader the little we know of the early Arabs ; then to draw 
the picture of the great Arab prophet and his work ; to 



viii PREFACE. 

show what are the salient points of Islam ; and finally 
to explain something of the history of the !Kur-an and its 
contents. I am conscious of having drawn the picture 
with a weak hand, but I hope the sketch may serve as a 
not quite useless introduction to a volume of typical selec- 
tions from a book which, in the peculiar character of its 
contents and the extraordinary power of its influence, has 
not its parallel in the world. 

S. L. P. 

JvMi 1878. 



CONTENTS. 



IXTRODUCTION. 

I. THE AEABS BKt'OEE MOHAMMAD . 
n. MOHAMiLAD 

III. islam: .... 

rv. THE KUK-AJf 



PAGE 

xi 

xxxvii 

bcxvii 

c 



PART THE FIRST. 

I. THE OPEXING PRAYEB . . , 

n. PEEMOXITIOX .... 

ni. GOD ..... 

rv. MOHAICUAD AND THE KUK-In 
T. THE KESUREECTIO:*, PARADISE, AND HELL 
VI. PREDESTINATION .... 
VU. ANGELS AND JINN 
Vrn. TRUE RELIGION AND FALSE , . 

IS. BELIEVERS AND DNBELIEVEES . . 



3 

4 

5 

13 

21 
32 

33 
34 
38 



PART THE SECOND. 



H. AD Ail AND ETE 
in. ABEL AND CAIN 
IV. NOAH AND THE FLOOD 
Y. 'ad and THAMOOD 
VI. DHU-L-KAENETN . 



DIVINE 


BOOKS 


• 47 






, 49 






• S3 






■ SS 






. 60 
■ 63 



X CONTENTS. 

VII. ABRAHAM, ISHMABL, ISAAC 
VIII. JACOB, JOSEPH AND HIS BEETHEEN 

IX. JOB 

X. sho'btb 

XI. MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE 
XII. SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMOX 

XIII. JONAH 

XIV. EZRA 
XV. THE MESSIAH 

INDEXES 



PAGE 

66 

n 

93 
95 
97 
132 
146 
14S 
149 

167 



miRODUCTION. 



I.— THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. 

* Oh, our manhood's prime vigour ! No spirit feels waste, 
Not a muscle is stopped in its playing nor sinew unbraced. 
Oh, the wild joys of living I the leaping from rock up to rock, 
The strong rending of boughs from the fir-tree, the cool sUver shock 
Of the plunge in the pool's living water, the hunt of the bear, 
And the sultriness showing the lion is couched in his lair. 
And the meal, the rich dates yellowed over with gold-dust divine. 
And the locust flesh steeped in the pitcher, the full draught of wine, 
And the sleep in the dried river-channel where bulrushes tell 
That the water was wont to go warbling so softly and welL 
How good is man's life, the mere living ! how fit to employ 
All the heart and the soul and the senses for ever in joy I ' 

—Browning, Saul. 

Between Egypt and Assyria, jostled by both, yielding to 
neither, lay a strange country, unknown save at its marches 
even to its neighbours, dwelt-in by a people that held 
itself aloof from all the earth — a people whom the great 
empires of the ancient world in vain essayed to conquer, 
against whom the power of Persia, Egypt, Eome, Byzan- 
tium was proven impotence, and at whose hands even the 
superb Alexander, had he lived to test his dream, might 
for once have learnt the lesson of defeat. Witnessing the 
struggle and f aU of one and another of the great tyrannies 
of antiquity, yet never entering the arena of the fight ; — 
swept on its northern frontier by the conflicting armies of 
Khusru and Caesar, but lifting never a hand in either 
cause ; — Arabia was at length to issue forth from its silent 
mystery, and after baffling for a thousand years the curi- 
ous gaze of strangers, was at last to draw to itself the 
fearful eyes of all men. The people of whom almost 



xii INTRODUCTION. 

nothing before could certainly be asserted but its existence 
was finally of its own free will to throw aside the veil, to 
come forth from its fastnesses, and imperiously to bring 
to its feet the kingdoms of the world. 

It is not all Arabia of which I speak. The story to 
tell has nothing as yet to say to the ' happy ' tilled lands of 
the south, nor to the outlying princedoms of El-Heereh and 
Ghassan bordering the territories and admitting the suzer- 
ainty of Persia and Eome. These lands were not wrapped 
in mystery : the Himyerite's kingdom in the Yemen, the 
rule of Zenobia at Palmyra, were familiar to the nations 
around. But the cradle of Islam was not here. 

Along the eastern coast of the Eed Sea, sometimes 
thrusting its spurs of red sandstone and porphyry into the 
waves, sometimes drawing away and leaving a wide stretch 
of lowland, runs a rugged range of mountain. One above 
another, the hills rise from the coast, leaving here and there 
between them a green valley, where you may see an Arab 
settlement or a group of Bedawees watering their flocks. 
Rivers there are none ; and the streams that gather from 
the rainfall are scarcely formed but they sink into the 
parched earth. Yet beneath the dried-up torrent-beds a 
rivulet trickles at times, and straightway there spreads a 
rich oasis dearly prized by the wanderers of the desert. 
All else is bare and desolate. Climb hill after hill, and 
the same sight meets the eye — barren mountain-side, dry 
gravelly plain, and the rare green valleys. At length 
you have reached the topmost ridge; and you see, not 
a steep descent, no expected return to the plain, but a 
vast desert plateau, blank, inhospitable, to all but Arabs 
unindwellable. You have climbed the Hijaz — the ' barrier ' 
— and are come to the steppes of the Nejd — the 'high- 
land.' In the valleys of this barrier-land are the Holy 
Cities, Mekka and Medina. Here is the birthplace of 
Islam : the Arab tribes of the i^ijaz and the Nejd were 
the first disciples of Mohammad. 

One may teU much of a people's character from its 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xiii 

home. Truism as it seems, there is yet a meaning in the 
saying that the Arabs are peculiarly the people of Arabia. 
Those who have traveUed in this wonderful land tell us of 
the quickening influence of the air and scene of the desert. 
The fresh breath of the plain, the glorious sky, the still 
of the wide expanse, trod by no step but your own, looked 
upon only by yourself and perhaps yonder solitary eagle 
or the wild goat leaping the cliffs you have left behind, 
the absolute stillness and aloneness, bring about a strange 
sense of delight and exultation, a bounding-up of spirits 
held in long restraint, an unknown nimbleness of wit and 
limb. The Arabs felt all this and more in their bright 
imaginative souls. A few would settle in villages, and 
engage in the trade which came through from India 
to the West ; but such were held in poor repute by the 
true Bedawees, who preferred above all things else the free 
life of the desert. It is a relief to turn from the hurry 
and unrest of modern civilisation, from the never-ending 
strife for wealth, for ' position,' for pleasure, even for 
knowledge, and look for a moment on the careless life of 
the Bedawee. He lived the aimless, satisfied life of some 
child; he sought no change; he was supremely content 
with the exquisite sense of simple existence; he was 
happy because he lived. He wished no more. He 
dreaded the dark After-death; he thrust it from his 
thoughts as often as it would force itself unwelcome upon 
him. Utterly fearless of man and fortune, he took no 
thought for the morrow: whatever it brought forth, he 
felt confidently his strength to enjoy or endure ; only let 
him seize the happiness of to-day while it shall last, and 
drain to the dregs the overbrimming cup of his life. He 
was ambitious of glory and victory, but it was not an 
ambition that clouded his joy. Throughout a life that 
was full of energy, of passion, of strong endeavour after 
his ideal of desert perfectness, there was yet a restful sense 
of satisfied enjoynient, a feeling that life was of a surety 
weU. worth living. 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

For the Arab had his ideal of life. The true son of the 
desert must in the old times do more than stretch his 
limbs contentedly under the shade of the overhanging 
rock. He must be brave and chivalrous, generous, hospi- 
table ; ready to sacrifice himself and his substance for his 
clan ; prompt to help the needy and the traveller ; true to 
his word, and, not least, eloquent in his speech. 

Devotion to the clan was the strongest tie the Arab 
possessed. Though tracing their descent from a common 
traditional ancestor, the great northern family of Be- 
dawees was split up into numerous clans, owning no 
central authority, but led, scarcely governed, each by its 
own chief, who was the most valiant and best-born man 
in it. The whole clan acted as one being ; an injury done 
to one member was revenged by all, and even a crime 
committed by a clansman was upheld by the whole bro- 
therhood. Though a small spark would easily light-up war 
between even friendly clans, it was rarely that those of 
kin met as enemies. It is told how a clan suffered 
long and oft-repeated injuries from a kindred clan with- 
out one deed of revenge. ' They are our brothers,' they 
said ; ' perhaps they will return to better feelings ; perhaps 
we shall see them again as they once were.' To be brought 
to poverty or even to die for the clan, the Arab deemed 
his duty — his privilege. ,To add by his prowess or his 
hospitality or his eloquence to the glory of the clan was 
his ambition. 

A mountain ^ we have where dwells he whom we shelter there, 

lofty, before whose height the eye falls back blunted : 
Deep-based is its root below ground, and overhead there soars 

its peak to the stars of heaven whereto no man reaches. 
A folk are we who deem it no shame to be slain in fight, 

though that be the deeming thereof of Salool and 'Amir; 
Our love of death brings near to us our days of doom, 

but their dooms shrink from death and stand far distant. 
There dies among us no lord a quiet death in his bed, 

and never is blood of us poured forth without vengeance. 

^ i.e., the glory of the clan. 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xv 

Our souls streaija forth in a flood from the edge of the whetted swords : 

no otherwise than so does our spirit leave its mansion. 
Pure ia our stock, unsullied : fair is it kept and bright 

by mothers whose bed bears well, and fathers mighty. 
To the best of the uplands we wend, and when the season cornea 

we travel adowu to the best of fruitful valleys. 
Like rain of the heaven are we : there is not in all our line 

one blunt of heart, nor among us is counted a niggard. 
AVe say nay when so we will to the words of other men, 

but no man to us says nay when we give sentence. 
When passes a lord of our line, in his stead there rises straight 

a lord to say the say and do the deeds of the noble. 
Our beacon is never quenched to the wanderer of the night, 

nor has ever a guest blamed us where men meet together. 
Our Days^ are famous among our foemen, of fair report, 

branded and blazed with glory like noble horses. 
Our swords have swept throughout all lands both west and east, 

and gathered many a notch from the steel of hauberk- wearers ; 
Not used are they when drawn to be laid back in the sheaths 

before that the folk they meet are spoiled and scattered. 
If thou knowest not, ask men what they think of us and them 

— not aUke are he that knows and he that knows not. 
The children of Ed-Dayy^n are the shaft of their people's mill, 

— around them it turns and whirls, while they stand midmost.'' 

The renown of tlie clan was closely wrapped up with 
the Arab chieftain's personal renown. He was keenly 
sensitive on the point of honour, and to that notion he 
attached a breadth of meaning which can scarcely be 
understood in these days. Honour included all the dif- 
ferent virtues that went to make up the ideal Bedawee. 
To be proved wanting in any of these was to be dis- 
honoured. Above all things, the man who would ' keep 



^ Battles. nevertheless as literal as need be. 

- This and the other verses quoted The transliteration of proper names 

in this chapter are taken from the in the verses (and in other quotations) 

translations of old Arab poetry con- has been assimilated to the system 

tributed by Mr. C. J. LyaU to the adopted by Mr. Lane, from which in 

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of this work I only depart in the case 

Bengal (Translations from the Uamd- of names which by frequent use have 

seh and the Aghdni ; The Mo'allaqah become almost the property of the 

of Zuheyr). They imitate the metres English language, 
of the original Arabic verse, but are 



xvi INTRODUCTION. 

his honour and defile it not ' must be brave and hospi- 
table — 

A rushing rain-flood when he gave guerdons : 
when he sprang to the onset, a mighty lion. 

The Arab warrior was a mighty man of valour. He 
would spend whole days in the saddle, burdened with heavy 
armour, in the pursuit of a foe, seeking the life of the 
slayer of his kin, or sweeping down upon the caravan of 
rich merchandise which his more peaceful countrymen 
of the towns were carrying through the deserts. The 
Arab lived mainly by plunder. His land did not yield 
hiTn food — unless it were dates, the Bedawee's bread — and 
he relied on the success of his foraging expeditions for his 
support. These he conducted with perfect good-breeding ; 
he used no violence when it could be avoided ; he merely 
relieved the caravan from the trouble of carrying any 
further the goods that he was himself willing to take 
charge of, urging, if necessary, the unfair treatment of his 
forefather Ishmael as an excellent reason for pillaging the 
sons of Isaac. ' When a woman is the victim, no Bedouin 
brigand, however rude, will be ill-mannered enough to 
lay hands upon her. He begs her to take off the garment 
on which he has set his heart, and he then retires to a 
distance and stands with eyes averted, lest he should do 
violence to her modesty.' 

The poems of the early Arabs are full of the deeds of 
their warriors, the excitement of the pitched battle, the 
delight of the pursuit, the nightly raid on the camp, the 
trial of skill between rival chiefs, and the other pic- 
tures of a warrior's triumph. Here we find little of 
the generosity of war : mercy was rarely exercised and 
hatred was carried to its extremest limits ; quarter was 
neither asked nor given ; to despatch a wounded man was 
ho disgrace ; the families of the vanquished were enslaved. 
Notwithstanding his frank genial nature, the Arab was of 
a dangerously quick temper, derived, he boasted, from the 
flesh he lived-on of the camel, the surliest and most ill- 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xvii 

conditioned of beasts. If he conceived himself insulted, 
he was bound to revenge himself to the full, or he would 
have been deemed dishonoured for ever. And since his 
fiery temper easily took offence, the history of the early 
Arabs is full of the traditions of slight quarrels and their 
horrible results — secret assassination and the long-lastiag 
blood-feud. 

Many tlie warriors, noon-journeying, who, when 

night fell, journeyed on and halted at dawning — 
Keen each one of them, girt with a keen blade 

that when one drew it flashed forth Hke the lightning — 
They were tasting of sleep by sips, when, as 

they nodded, thou didst fright them, and they were scattered. 
Vengeance we did on them : there escaped us 

of the two houses none but the fewest. 
And if Hudheyl ^ broke the edge of his ^ sword-blade — 

many the notch that Hudheyl gained from him ! 
Many the time that he made them kneel down on 

jagged rocks where the hoof is worn with running ! 
Many the morning he fell on their shelter, 

and after slaughter came plunder and spoiling ! 
Hudheyl has been burned by me, one valiant 

whom Evil tires not though they be wearied — 
Whose spear drinks deep the first draught, and thereon 

drinks deep again of the blood of foemen. 
Forbidden was wine, but now it is lawful ; 

hard was the toil that made it lawful ! 
Reach me the cup, Sawild son of 'Amr ! 

my body is spent with gaining my vengeance. 
To Hudheyl we gave to drink Death's goblet, 

whose dregs are disgrace and shame and dishonour. 
The hyena laughs over the slain of Hudheyl, and 

the wolf — see thou — grins by their corpses, 
And the vultures flap their wings, full-bellied 

treading their dead, too gorged to leave them. 

The contempt which the Arab, with a few noble excep- 
tions, felt for the gentler virtues is seen in these liaes : — 

Had I been a eon of Mdzin, there had not plundered my herds 
the sons of the Child of the Dust, Dhuhl son of Sheybfc ! 

' A tribe. third verse as 'thou,' whose death 

' The subject of the poem, men- the supposed author (' one vahant ') 
tioned in the second hemistich of the avenged. 

6 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

There had straightway arisen to help me a heavy-handed kin, 

good smiters when help is needed, though the feeble bend to the 
Men who, when Evil bares before them his hindmost teeth, [blow : 

fly gaily to meet him, in companies or alone. 
They ask not their brother, when he lays before them his wrong 

in his trouble, to give them proof of the truth of what he says. 
But as for my people, though their number be not small, 

they are good for nought against evil, however Ijght it be ; 
They requite with forgiveness the wrong of those that do them wrong, 

and the evil deeds of the evil they meet with kindness and love ; 
As though thy Lord had created among the tribes of men 

themselves alone to fear Him, and never one man more. 
Would that I had in their stead a folk who, when they ride forth, 

strike swiftly and hard, on horse or on camel borne ! 

A point on which the temper of the Bedawee was easily 
touched was his family pride. The Arab prized good blood 
as much in men as in his horses and camels. In these 
he saw the importance of breed, and in men he firmly be- 
lieved the same principle held good. With the tenacious 
memory of his race, he had no diiJiculty in remember- 
ing the whole of a complicated pedigree, and he would 
often proudly dwell on the purity of his blood and the 
gallant deeds of his forefathers. He would challenge 
another chief to prove a more noble descent, and hot 
disputes and bitter rivalries often came of these com- 
parisons. 

But if noble birth brought rivalry and hatred, it 
brought withal excellent virtues. The Arab nobleman 

o 

was not a man who was richer and more idle and luxuri- 
ous than his inferiors : his position, founded upon descent, 
depended for its maintenance on personal qualities. Eank 
brought with it onerous obligations. The chief, if he 
would retain and carry on the repute of his line, must not 
only be fearless and ready to fight all the world ; he must 
be given to hospitality, generous to kith and kin, and 
to all who cry unto him. His tent must be so pitched 
in the camp that it shall not only be the first that the 
enemy attacks, but also the first the wayworn stranger 
approaches ; and at night fires must be Idndled hard by to 
guide wanderers in the desert to his hospitable entertain- 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xix 

ment. If a man came to an Arab noble's tent and said, I 
throw myself on your honour/ he was safe from his ene- 
mies until they had trampled on the dead body of his host. 
Nothing was baser than to give up a guest ; the treachery 
was rare, and brought endless dishonour upon the clan in 
which the shame had taken place. The poet extols the 
tents — 

Where dwells a kin great of heart, whose word is enough to shield 

whom they shelter when peril comes in a night of fierce strife and 
storm ; 

Yea, noble are they : the seeker of vengeance gains not from them 
the blood of his foe, nor is he that wrongs them left without help. 

The feeling lasted even under the debased rule of 
Muslim despots ; for it is related that a governor was once 
ordering-out some prisoners to execution, when one of 
them asked for a drink of water, which was immediately 
given him. He then turned to the governor and said, 
' Wilt thou slay thy guest ? ' and was forthwith set free. 
A pledge of protection was inferred in the giving of hos- 
pitality, and to break his word was a thing not to be 
thought upon by an Arab. He did not care to give an 
oath ; his simple word was enough, for it was known to 
be inviolable. Hence the priceless worth of the Arab 
chief's word of welcome : it meant protection, unswerving 
iidelity, help, and succour. 

There was no bound to this hospitality. It was the 
pride of the Arab to place everything he possessed at 
the service of the guest. The last milch-camel must be 
killed sooner than the duties of hospitality be neglected. 
The story is told of Hatim, a gallant poet-warrior of the 
tribe of Tayyi, which well illustrates the Arab ideal of 
hostship. Hatim was at one time brought to the brink of 
starvation by the dearth of a rainless season. For a whole 
day he and his family had eaten nothing, and at night, after 
soothing the children to sleep by telling them some of those 
stories in which the Arabs have few rivals, he was trying 
by his cheerful conversation to make his wife forget her 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

hunger. Just then they heard steps without, and a corner 
of the tent was raised. ' Who is there ? ' said Hatim. A 
woman's voice replied, ' I am such a one, thy neighbour. 
My children have nothing to eat, and are howling like young 
wolves, and I have come to beg help of thee.' ' Bring them 
here,' said Hatim. His wife asked him what he would do, 
for if he could not feed his own children, how should he find 
food for this woman's ? ' Do not disturb thyself,' he an- 
swered. Now Hatim had a horse renowned far and wide for 
the purity of his stock and the fleetness and beauty of his 
paces. He would not kill his favourite for himself nor 
even for his own children ; but now he went out and slew 
him, and prepared him. with fire for the strangers' need. And 
when he saw them eating with his wife and children, he 
exclaimed, ' It were a shame that you alone should eat 
whilst all the camp is perishing of hunger ; ' and he went 
and called the neighbours to the meal, and in the morning 
there remained of the horse nothing but his bones. But 
as for himself, wrapped in his mantle, he sat apart in a 
corner of the tent. 

This Hatim is a type of the Arab nature at its noblest. 
Though renowned for his courage and skill in war, he 
never suffered his enmity to overcome his generosity. He 
had sworn an oath never to take a man's life, and he 
strictly observed it, and always withheld the fatal last blow. 
In spite of his clemency, he was ever successful in the 
wars of his clan, and brought back from his raids many a 
rich spoil, only to spend it at once in his princely fashion. 
His generosity and faithful observance of his word at 
times placed him in positions of great danger ; but the 
alternative of denying his principles seems never to have 
occurred to his mind. For instance, he had imposed upon 
himself as a law never to refuse a gift to him that asked it 
of him. Once, engaged in single combat, he had disarmed 
and routed his opponent, who then turned and said, 'Hatim, 
give me thy spear.' At once he threw it to him, leaving 
himself defenceless ; and had he not met an adversary 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxi 

worthy of himself, this had been the last of his deeds. 
Happily Hatim was not the only generous warrior of the 
Arabs, and his foe did not avail himself of his advantage. 
When Hatim's friends remonstrated with him on the rash- 
ness of an act which, in the spirit of shopkeepers, they 
regarded as quixotic, Hatim said, ' What would you have 
me to do ? He asked of me a gift ! ' 

It was Hatim's practice to buy the liberty of all captives 
who sought his aid : it was but another application of the 
Arab virtue of hospitality. Once a captive called to him 
when he was on a journey and had not with him the 
means of paying the ransom. But he was not wont to 
allow any difficulties to baulk him of the exercise of his 
duty, and he had the prisoner released, stepping mean- 
while into his chains until his own clan should send the 
ransom. 

Brave, chivalrous, faithful, and generous beyond the 
needful of Arab ideal — so that his niggard wife, using the 
privilege of high dames, repudiated him because he was 
ever ruining himself and her by his open hand— Hatim 
filled up the measure of Arab virtue by his eloquence, 
and such of his poems as have come down to us reflect 
the nobility of his life. As a youth he had shown a 
strong passion for poetry, and would spare no means of 
doing honour to poets. His grandfather, in despair at the 
boy's extravagance, sent him away from the camp to guard 
the camels, which were pastured at a distance. Sitting there 
in a state of solitude little congenial to his nature, Hatim 
lifted his eyes and saw a caravan approachtag. It was the 
caravan of three great poets who were travelling to the 
court of the King of El-Heereh. Hatimbegged them to alight 
and to accept of refreshment afterthe hot and dreary journey. 
He killed them a camel each, though one would have more 
than sufficed for the three ; and in return they wrote him 
verses in praise of himself and his kindred. Overjoyed at 
the honour, Hatun insisted on the poets each accepting a 
hundred camels ; and they departed with their gifts. When 



xxii INTRODUCTION: 

the grandfather came to the pasturing and asked where 
the camels were gone, Hatim answered, ' I have exchanged 
them for a crown of honour, which will shine for all time 
on the brow of thy race. The lines in which great poets 
have celebrated our house will pass from mouth to mouth, 
and will carry our glory over all Arabia.' ^ 

This story well illustrates the Arab's passionate love 
of poetry. He conceived his language to be the finest 
in the world, and he prized eloquence and poetry as the 
goodliest gifts of the gods. There were three great events 
in Arab life, when the clan was called together and great 
f eastings and rejoicings ensued. One was the birth of a 
son to a chief; another the foaling of a generous mare; 
the third was the discovery that a great poet had risen 
up among them. The advent of the poet meant the im- 
mortality of the deeds of the clansmen and the everlasting 
contumely of their foes ; it meant the raising up of the 
glory of the tribe over all the clans of Arabia, and the 
winning of triumphs by bitterer weapons than sword and 
spear — the weapons of stinging satire and scurrilous squib. 
No man might dare withstand the power of the poets 
among a people who were keenly alive to the point of an 
epigram, and who never forgot an ill-natured jibe if it 
were borne upon musical verse. Most of the great heroes 
of the desert were poets as well as warriors, and their 
poesy was deemed the chiefest gem in their crown, and, 
like their courage, was counted a proof of generous birth. 
The Khalif 'Omar said well, ' The kings of the Arabs are 
their orators and poets, those who practise and who cele- 
brate all the virtues of the Bedawee.' 

This ancient poetry of the Arabs is the reflection of the 
people's life. Far away from the trouble of the world, 
barred by wild wastes from the stranger, the Bedawee 



^ For these and other stories about life, and abounds in those anecdotes 

H4tim,see Caussin de Perceval's Essai which reveal more of the character of 

sur VBistoire des Arabes, ii. 607-628 : the people than whole volumes of 

a book which is a treasury of Arab ethnolosical treatise. 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxiii 

lived his happy child's life, enjoying to the uttermost the 
good the gods had sent him, delighting in the face that 
Nature showed him, inspired by the glorious breath of the 
deserts that were his home. His poetry rings of that 
desert life. It is emotional, passionate, seldom reflective. 
Not the end of life, the whence and the whither, but the 
actual present joy of existence, was the subject of his song. 
Vivid painting of nature is the characteristic of this poetry : 
it is natural, unpolislied, unlaboured. The scenes of the 
desert — the terrors of the nightly ride through the hill- 
girdled valley where the Ghools and the Jinn have their 
haunts; the gloom of the barren plain, where the wolf, 
'like a ruined gamester,' roams ululating; the weariness 
of the journey under the noonday sun ; the stifling of the 
sand-storm, the delusions of the mirage; or again, the 
solace of the palm-tree's shade, and the delights of the 
cool well; — such are the pictures of the Arab poet. The 
people's life is another frequent theme : the daily doings 
of the herdsman, the quiet pastoral life, on the one hand ; 
on the other, the deeds of the chiefs — war, plunder, the 
chase, wassail, revenge, friendship, love. There were 
satires on rival tribes, panegjrrics on chiefs, laments for 
the dead. This poetry is wholly objective, artless, child- 
like ; it is the outcome of a people stUl in the freshness of 
youth, whom the mysteries and complications of life have 
not yet set a-thinking. ' Just as his language knows but 
the present and the past, so the ancient Arab lived but ir 
to-day and yesterday. The future is nought to him ; he 
seizes the present with too thorough abandonment to have 
an emotion left for anything beyond. He troubles him- 
self not with what fate the morrow may bring forth, he 
dreams not of a beautiful future, — only he revels in the 
present, and his glance looks backward alone. Rich in 
ideas and impressions, he is poor in thought. He drains 
hastily the foaming cup of life ; he feels deeply and pas- 
sionately ; but it is as if he were never conscious of the 
coming of the thoughtful age which, while it surveys the 



xxiv INTRODUCTION. 

past, as often turns an anxious look to the unknown 
future.' 

It is very difficult for a Western mind to enter into the 
real beauty of the old Arab poetry. The life it depicts is 
so unlike any we can now witness, that it is almost re- 
moved beyond the pale of our sympathies. The poetry is 
loaded with metaphors and similes, which to us seem far- 
fetched, though they are drawn from the simplest daily 
sights of the Bedawee. Moreover, it is only in fragments 
that we can read it ; for the change in the whole char- 
acter of Arab life and in the current of Arab ideas which 
followed the conquests of Islam extinguished the old 
songs, which were no longer suitable to the new con- 
ditions of things; and as they were seldom recorded 
in writing, we possess but a little remnant of them.^ 
Yet ' these fragments may be broken, defaced, dimmed, 
and obscured by fanaticism, ignorance, and neglect; but 
out of them there arises anew all the freshness, bloom, 
and glory of desert-song, as out of Homer's epics rise the 
glowing spring-time of humanity and the deep blue 
heavens of Hellas. It is not a transcendental poetry, rich 
in deep and thoughtful legend and lore, or glittering in 
the many-coloured prisms of fancy, but a poetry the chief 
task of which is to paint life and nature as they really 
are ; and within its narrow bounds it is magnificent. It 
is chiefly and characteristically full of manliness, of vigour, 
and of a chivalrous spirit, do ably striking when compared 
with the spirit of abjectness and slavery found in some 
other Asiatic nations. It is wild and vast and monotonous 
as the yellow seas of its desert solitudes ; it is daring and 
noble, tender and true.'^ 

1 The later Arabic poets were mostly Zoheyr, of -whom Professor E. H. 
incapable of the genius of the old Palmer has lately given us so beauti- 
singers : the times had changed, and ful a version. There is nothing in 
the ancient poetry appeared almost common between El-Beh4 and 'An- 
as exotic to their ideas as it does to tarah — scarcely even the language, 
our own. No greater mistake can be ''■ Deutsch, Lit. Bemains, 453, 454 : 
made than to judge of the old poets cp. Noldeke, Beitrage zur Kennt. d. 
by such a writer as Beha-ed-deen Foesie d. alten Araber, xxiii., xxiv. 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxv 

There was one place where,above all others, theKaseedehs 
of the ancient Arabs were recited : this was 'Okadh, the 
Olympia of Arabia, where there was held a great annual 
Fair, to which not merely the merchants of Mekka and the 
south, but the poet-heroes of all the land resorted. The 
Fair of 'Okadh was held during the sacred months, — a sort 
of ' God's Truce,' -when blood could not be shed without a 
violation of the ancient customs and faiths of the Beda- 
wees. Thither went the poets of rival clans, who had as 
often locked spears as hurled rhythmical curses. There 
was little fear of a bloody ending to the poetic contest, for 
those heroes who might meet there with enemies or blood- 
avengers are said to have worn masks or veils, and their 
poems were recited by a public orator at their dictation. 
That these precautions and the sacredness of the time could 
not always prevent the ill-feeling evoked by the pointed 
personalities of rival singers leading to a fray and blood- 
shed is proved by recorded instances ; but such results 
were uncommon, and as a rule the customs of the time 
and place were respected. In spite of occasional broils 
on the spot, and the lasting feuds which these poetic 
contests must have excited, the Fair of 'Okadh was a 
grand institution. It served as a focus for the litera- 
ture of all Arabia : every one with any pretensions to poetic 
power came, and if he could not himself gain the applause 
of the assembled people, at least he could form one of the 
critical audience on whose verdict rested the fame or the 
shame of every poet. The Fair of 'Okadh was a literary 
congress, without formal judges, but with unbounded 
influence. It was here that the polished heroes of the 
desert determined points of grammar and prosody ; here 
the seven Golden Songs were recited, although (alas for 
the charming legend!) they were not afterwards 'suspended' 
on the Kaabeh ; and here ' a magical language, the lan- 
guage of the Hijaz,' was buUt out of the dialects of Arabia, 
and was made ready to the skilful hand of Mohammad, 
that he might conquer the world with his Imuran. 



xxvi INTRODUCTION. 

The Fair of 'Okadh was not merely a centre of emula- 
tion for Arab poets : it was also an annual review of Bed- 
awee virtues. It was there that the Arab nation once-a- 
year inspected itself, so to say, and brought forth and 
criticised its ideals of the noble and the beautiful in life 
and in poetry. For it was in poetry that the Arab — and 
for that matter each man all the world over — expressed 
his highest thoughts, and it was at 'Okadh that these 
thoughts were measured by the standard of the Bedawee 
ideal. The Fair not only maintained the highest standard 
of poetry that the Arabic language has ever reached : it 
also upheld the noblest idea of life and duty that the 
Arab nation has yet set forth and obeyed. 'Okadh was 
the press, the stage, the pulpit, the Parliament, and the 
Academic Fran^aise of the Arab people ; and when, in his 
fear of the infidel poets (whom Imra-el-Keys was to usher 
to hell), Mohammad abolished the Fair, he destroyed the 
Arab nation even whilst he created his own new nation of 
Muslims ; — and the Muslims cannot sit in the places of 
the old pagan Arabs. 

It is very difficult for the Western mind to dissociate the 
idea of Oriental poetry from the notion of amatory odes, and 
sonnets to the lady's eyebrow : but even the few extracts 
that have been given in this chapter show that the Arab 
had many other subjects besides love to sing about, and 
though the divine theme has its place in almost every poem, 
it seldom rivals the prominence of war and nature-painting, 
and it is treated from a much less sensual point of view 
than that of later Arab poets. Many writers have drawn 
a gloomy picture of the condition of women in Arabia 
before the coming of Mohammad, and there is no doubt 
that in many cases their lot was a miserable one. There 
are ancient Arabic proverbs that point to the contempt in 
which woman's judgment and character were held by the 
Arabs of ' the Time of Ignorance,' and Mohammad must 
have derived his mean opinion of women from a too general 
impression among his countrymen. The marriage tie was 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxvii 

certainly very loose among the ancient Arabs. The cere- 
mony itself was of the briefest. The man said lihith (i.e. 
I am an asker-in-marriage), and the giver-away answered 
nikh (i.e., I am a giver-in-marriage), and the knot was thus 
tied, only to be undone with equal facility and brevity. 
The frequency of divorce among the Arabs does not speak 
well for their constancy, and must have had a degrading 
effect upon the women. Hence it is argued that women 
were the objects of contempt rather than of respect among 
the ancient Arabs. 

Yet there is reason to believe that the evidence upon 
which this conclusion is founded is partial and one-sided. 
There was a wide gulf between the Bedawee and the town 
Arab. It is not impossible that the view commonly enter- 
tained as to the state of women in preislamic times is 
based mainly on what Mohammad saw around Mm in 
Mekka, and not on the ordinary life of the desert. To 
such a conjecture a curiously uniform support is lent by 
the ancient poetry of the desert; and though the poets 
were then — as they always are — men of finer mould than 
the rest, yet their example, and still more their poems 
passing from mouth to mouth, must have created a wide- 
spread belief in their principles. It is certain that the 
roaming Bedawee, like the mediaeval knight, entertained 
a chivalrous reverence for women, although he, too, Hke 
the knight, was not always above a career of promiscuous 
gallantry; but there was always a certain glamour of 
romance about the intrigues of the Bedawee. He did not 
regard the object of his love as a chattel to be possessed, 
but as a divinity to be assiduously worshipped. The poems 
are fuU of instances of the courtly respect displayed by 
the heroes of the desert toward defenceless maidens, and 
the mere existence of so general an ideal of conduct in the 
poems is a strong argument for Arab chivalry : for with 
the Arabs the abyss between the ideal accepted of the 
mind and the attaining thereof in action was narrower 
than it is among ' more advanced ' nations. 



Jixviii INTRODUCTION. 

Whatever was the condition of women in the trading 
cities and villages, it is certain that in the desert woman 
was regarded as she has never since been among Mus- 
lims. The modern hareem system was there as yet un- 
dreamt of ; the maid of the desert was unfettered by the 
ruinous restrictions of modern life in the East. She was 
free to choose her own husband, and to bind him to have 
no other wife than herself. She might receive male 
visitors, even strangers, without suspicion : for her virtue 
was too dear to her and too well assured to need the 
keeper. It was the bitterest taunt of all to say to a 
hostile clan that their men had not the heart to give 
nor their women to deny ; for the chastity of the women 
of the clan was reckoned only next to the valour 
and generosity of the men. In those days bastardy was 
an indelible stain. It was the wife who inspired the 
hero to deeds of glory, and it was her praise that he most 
valued when he returned triumphant. The hero of desert 
song thought himself happy to die in guarding some women 
from their pursuers. "Wounded to the death, 'Antarah 
halted alone in a narrow pass, and bade the women press 
on to a place of safety. Planting his spear in the ground, 
he supported himself on his horse, so that when the pur- 
suers came up they knew not he was dead, and dared not 
approach within reach of his dreaded arm. At length the 
horse moved, and the body fell to the ground, and the 
enemies saw that it was but the corpse of the hero that 
had held the pass. In death, as in a life sans peur et sans 
reproche, 'Antarah was true to the chivalry of his race. 

There are many instances like this of the knightly 
courtesy of the Arab chief in 'the Time of Ignorance.' 
In the old days, as an ancient writer says, the true Arab 
had but one love, and her he loved till death, and she him. 
Even when polygamy became commoner, especially in the 
1 towns, it was not what is meant by polygamy in a modern 
1 Muslim state: it was rather the patriarchal system of 
lAbram and Sarai. 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxix 

There is much in the fragments of the ancient poetry 
■n-hich reflects this fine spirit. It is ofttimes ' tender and 
true,' and even Islam could not wholly root out the 
real Arab sentiment, which reappears in Muslim times 
in the poems of Aboo-Firas. Especially valuable is the 
evidence of the old poetry with regard to the love of 
a father for his daughters. Infanticide, which is com- 
monly attributed to the whole Arab nation of every age 
before Islam, was in reality exceedingly rare in the 
desert, and after almost dying out only revived about 
the time of Mohammad. It was probably adopted by 
poor and weak clans, either from inability to support 
their children, or in order to protect themselves from the 
stain of having their children dishonoured by stronger 
tribes, and the occasional practice of this barbarous and 
suicidal custom affords no ground for assuming an unna- 
tural hatred and contempt for girls among the ancient 
Arabs. These verses of a father to his daughter tell a 
different story : — 

If no Umeymeh were there, no want would trouble my soul, 

no labour call me to toil for bread through pitchiest night ; 
What moves my longing to live is but that well do I know 

how low the fatherless lies, how hard the kindness of kin, 
I quake before loss of wealth lest lacking fall upon her, 

and leave her shieldless and bare as flesh set forth on a board. • 
My life she prays for, and I from mere love pray for her death — 

yea death, the gentlest and kindest guest to visit a maid. 
I fear an uncle's rebuke, a brother's harshness for her ; 

my chief est end was to spare her heart the grief of a word. 

Once more, the following lines do not breathe the spirit 
of infanticide : — 

Fortune has brought rae down (her wonted way) 

from station great and high to low estate ; 
Fortune has rent away my plenteous store : 

of all my wealth, honour alone is left. 
Fortune has turned my joy to tears : how oft 

did Fortune make me laugh with what she gave I 
Bat for these girls, the Kata's downy brood, 

unkindly thrust from door to door as hard, 
Far would I roam and wide to seek my bread 

in earth that haa no lack of breadth and length ; 



XXX INTRODUCTION. 

Kay, but our children in our midst, what else 

but our hearts are they walking on the ground ? 

If but the wind blow harsh on one of them, 
mine eye says no to slumber all night long. 

Hitherto we have been looking at but one side of Arab 
life. The Bedawees were indeed the^bulk of the race, and 
furnished the swords of the Muslim conquests ; but there 
was also a vigorous town-life in Arabia, and the citizens 
waxed rich with the gains of their trafficking. Tor through 
Arabia ran the trade-route between East and West : it was 
the Arab traders who carried the produce of the Yemen to 
the markets of Syria; and how ancient was their com- 
merce one may divine from the words of a poet of Judaea 
spoken more than a thousand years before the coming of 
Mohammad. 

Wedan and Javan from San'a paid for thy produce : 

sword-blades, cassia, and calamus were in thy trafficking. 
Dedan was thy merchant in saddle-cloths for riding ; 
Arabia and all the merchants of ICedar, they were the merchants of thy 
hand : 
in lambs and rams and goats, in these were they thy merchants. 
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants. 

with the chief of all spices, and with every precious stone, and gold, 
they paid for thy produce. 
Haran, Aden, and Canneh, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur and Chil- 

mad were thy merchants ; 

They were thy merchants in excellent wares, 

in cloth of blue and broidered work, 

in chests of cloth of divers colours, bound with cords and made fast 
among thy merchandize.^ 

Mekka was the centre of this trading life, the typical 
Arab city of old times — a stirring little town, with its 
caravans bringing the silks and woven stuffs of Syria and 
the far-famed damask, and carrying away the sweet- 
smelling produce of Arabia, frankincense, cinnamon, san- 
dal-wood, aloe, and myrrh, and the dates and leather 



1 Ezekiel xxvii. 19-24. The iden- Arabia. Cf. the 'Speaker's' Commen- 

tifications of the various names with tary^ vi. 122 ; and the interpretations 

Arabian towns are partly conjectural, of Eitzig, Movers, Tuoh, and Menant. 
but the general reference is clearly to 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxxi 

and metals of the south, and the goods that come to 
the Yemen from Africa and even India; its assem- 
blies of merchant-princes in the Council Hall near the 
Kaabeh; and again its young poets running over with 
love and gallantry ; its Greek and Persian slave-girls 
brightening the luxurious banquet with their native songs, 
when as yet there was no Arab school of music, and the 
monotonous but not unmelodious chant of the camel- 
driver was the national song of Arabia ; and its club, where 
busy men spent their idle hours in playing chess and 
draughts, or in gossiping with their acquaintance. It 
was a little republic of commerce, too much infected with 
the luxuries aud refinements of the states it traded with, 
yet retaining enough of the free Arab nature to redeem it 
from the charge of effeminacy. 

Mekka was a great home of music and poetry, and 
this characteristic lasted into Muslim times. There 
is a story of a certain stonemason who had a wonder- 
ful gift of singing. "When he was at work the young 
men used to come and importune him, and bring him 
gifts of money and food to induce him to sing. He 
would then make a stipulation that they should first help 
him ia his work ; and forthwith they would strip off their 
cloaks, and the stones would gather round him rapidly. 
Then he would mount a rock and begin to sing, whilst the 
whole hill was coloured red and yellow with the variegated 
garments of his audience. Singers were then held in the 
highest admiration, and the greatest chiefs used to pay 
their court to ladies of the musical profession. One of 
them used to give receptions, open to the whole city, in 
which she would appear in great state, surrounded by her 
ladies-in-waiting, each dressed magnificently, and wearing 
'an elegant artificial chignon.' It was in this town-life that 
the worse qualities of the Arab came out ; it was here that 
his raging passion for dicing and his thirst for wine were 
most prominent. In the desert there was httle oppor- 
tunity for indulging in either luxury ; but in a town which 



xxxii INTRODUCTION. 

often welcomed a caravan bringing goods to the value of 
twenty thousand pound, such excesses were to be looked 
for. Excited by the song of the Greek slave-girl and the 
fumes of mellow wine, the Mekkan would throw the dice 
till, like the Germans of Tacitus, he had staked and lost 
his own liberty. 

But Mekka was more than a centre of trade and of 
song. It was the focus of the religion of the Arabs. 
Thither the tribes went up every year to kiss the black 
stone which had fallen from heaven in the primeval 
days of Adam, and to make the seven circuits of the 
Kaabeh naked, — for they would not approach God in the 
garments in which they had done their sins, — and to per- 
form the other ceremonies of the pilgrimage. The Kaabeh, 
a cubical building in the centre of Mekka, was the most 
sacred temple in all Arabia, and it gave its sanctity to all 
the district around. It had been, saith tradition, first 
built by Adam from a heavenly model, and then rebuilt 
from time to time by Seth and Abraham and Ishmael, and 
less reverend persons, and it contained the sacred things of 
the land. Here was the black stone, here the great god of 
red agate, Hubal, and the three hundred and sixty idols, 
one for each day of the year, which Mohammad after- 
wards destroyed in one day. Here was Abraham's stone 
and that other which marked the tomb of Ishmael, and hard 
by Zemzem, the god-sent spring which gushed from the 
sand when the forefather of the Arabs was perishing of 
thirst. 

The religion of the ancient Arabs, little as we know of 
it, is especially interesting, inasmuch as the Arabs longest 
retained the original Semitic character, and hence probably 
the original Semitic religion : and so in the ancient re- 
ligion of Arabia we see the religion once professed by 
Chaldeans, Canaanites, Phoenicians. This ancient religion 
' rises little higher than animistic polydaemonism. It is a 
collection of tribal religions standing side by side, only 
loosely united, though there are traces of a once closer 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxxiii 

connection.' ^ The great objects of worship were the sun 
and the stars and the three moon-goddesses — El-Lat the 
bright moon, Menah the dark, and El-'Uzz^ the union of 
the two ; whilst a lower cultus of trees, stones, and moun- 
tains, supposed to be dwelt-in by souls, shows that the 
religion had not yet quite risen above simple fetishism. At 
the time of Mohammad the Arabs worshipped numerous 
images, which may have been merely a development from 
the previous stone-worship, or may have been introduced 
from intercourse with Christians. There are traces of a 
belief in a supreme God behind this pantheon, and the 
moon-goddesses and other divinities were regarded as 
daughters of the, most high God (Allah ta'ala) — a concep- 
tion also possibly derived from Christianity. The various 
deities (but not the Supreme Allah) had their fanes, where 
human sacrifices, though rare, were not unknown ; and 
their cultus was superintended by a hereditary line of 
seers, who were held in great reverence, but never de- 
veloped into a priestly caste. 

Besides the tribal gods, individual households had their 
special Penates, to whom was due the first and the last 
salam of the returning or outgoing host. But in spite of 
all this superstitious apparatus the Arabs were never a 
religious people. In the old days, as now, they were reck- 
less, skeptical, materialistic. They had their gods and 
their divining- arrows, but they were ready to demolish 
both if the responses proved contrary to their wishes. A 
great majority believed in no future life nor in a reckoning- 
day of good and evil. If a few tied camels to the graves 
of the dead that the corpse might ride mounted to the 
judgment-seat, it must have been the exception; and if 
there are some doubtful traces of the doctrine of metem- 
psychosis, this again must have been the creed of the very 
few. 



* C. p. Tiele, Outlines of the History of Religion : tr. J. B. Carpenter, p. 63. 

C 



xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 

Christianity and Judaism had made but small impress 
upon the Arabs. There were Jewish tribes in the north, 
and there is evidence in the J^ur-an and elsewhere that the 
traditions and rites of Judaism were widely known in 
Arabia. But the creed was too narrow and too exclu- 
sively national to commend itself to the majority of the 
people. Christianity fared even worse. Whether or not 
St. Paul went there, it is at least certain that very little 
effect was produced by the preaching of Christianity in 
Arabia. We hear of Christians on the borders, and even 
two or three among the Mekkans, and bishops and churches 
are spoken of at Dhafar and Nejran. But the Christianity 
that the Arabs knew was, like the Judaism of the northern 
tribes, a very imperfect reflection of the faith it professed 
to set forth. It had become a thing of the head instead 
of the heart, and the refinements of monophysite and 
monothelite doctrines gained no hold upon the Arab 
mind. 

Thus Judaism and Christianity, though they were well 
known, and furnished many ideas and ceremonies to 
Islam, were never able to effect any general settlement in 
Arabia. The common Arabs did not care much about any 
religion, and the finer spirits found the wrangling dogma- 
tism of the Christian and the narrow isolation of the Jew 
little to their mind. For there were before the time of 
Mohammad men who were dissatisfied with the low 
fetishism in which their countrymen were plunged, and 
who protested emphatically against the idle and often cruel 
superstitions of the Arabs. Not to refer to the prophets, 
who, as the Kur-an relates, were sent in old time to the tribes 
of 'Ad and Thamood to convert them, there was, immedi- 
ately before the preaching of Mohammad, a general feeling 
that a change was at hand ; a prophet was exp ected, and 
women were anxiously hoping for male children if so be 
they might mother the Apostle of God ; and the more 
thoughtful minds, tinged with traditions of Judaism, were 



THE ARABS BEFORE MOHAMMAD. xxxv 

seeking for what they called ' the religion of Abraham.' 
These men were called ' Haneefs,' or skeptics, and their 
religion seems to have consisted chiefly in a negative posi- 
tion, in denying the superstition of the Arabs, and in only 
asserting the existence of one sole-ruling God whose abso- 
lute slaves are all mankind, without being able to decide 
on any minor doctrines, or to determine in what manner 
this one God was to be worshipped. So long as the Haneefs 
could give their countrymen no more definite creed than 
this, their influence was limited to a few inquiring and 
doubting minds. It was reserved for Mohammad to for- 
mulate the faith of the Haneefs in the dogmas of Islam. 
For the leader of these few ' skeptics' was Zeyd ibn 'Amr, 
to whom Mohammad often resorted, and another, Warakah, 
was the cousin of the Prophet and his near neighbour : and 
thus the Haneefs were the forerunners of the man who 
was t o change th e destinies of the Arabs. 

T7e can no longer see the true Aiab as he was in ' the 
Time of Ignorance,' and we cannot but regret our loss ; 
for the Pagan Arab is a noble type of man, though 
there be nobler. There is much that is admirable in 
his high mettle, his fine sense of honour, his knightli- 
ness, his ' open - handed, both - handed,' generosity, his 
frank friendship, and his manly independent spirit ; 
and the faults of this wild reckless nature are not 
to be weighed against its many excellencies. When 
Mohammad turned abroad the current of Arab life, he 
changed the character of the people. The mixture with 
foreign nations, and the quiet town-life that succeeded to 
the tumult of conquest, gradually effaced many of the 
leading ideas of the old Arab nature, and the remnant that 
still dwell in the land of their fathers have lost much of 
that nobleness of character which in their ancestors covered 
a multitude of sins. ]\ Iohammad in part destro^^ed th e 
Arab and created the^uslim. The last is no amends for 
the first. The modern Bedawee is neither the one nor the 



XXX vi INTRODUCTION. 

other ; he has lost the greatness of the old type without 
gaining that of the new. As far as the A rabs alo ne are 
concerned, Mohammad effected a temporary_good^and_a 
lastinsT harm. As to the world at large, that is matter for 
another chapter. 



( xxxvii ) 



11.— MOHAMMAn. 

For every fiery proptet in old times. 

And all the sacred madness of the bard, 

"When God made music through them, could but speak 

His music by the framework and the chord ; 

And as h£ saw it lie hatli spoken truth. 

—Tlu Holy Gro.a. 

A PEOPHET for the Arabs nmst fulfil tvro conditions if 
lie will bring witb his good tidings the power of making 
them accepted : he must spring from the traditional centre 
of ^Ajabian^religiijn, and he_must^ ome of a noble famil y 
of pure Arab blood. Mohainniad ^ulfilled bot h. His 



family ■vrasTEat branch ^Fthe^ureysh which had raised 
Mekka to the dignity of the undisputed metropolis of 
Arabia, and -which, though impoverished, still held 
the chief offices of the sacred territory. Mohammad's 
grandfather was the virtual chief of Mekka ; for to him. 
belonged the guardianship of the Kaabeh, and he it was 
who used the generous privilege of giving food and 
water to the pUgrims who resorted to the ' House of God.' 
His youngest son, after marrying a kinswoman belonging 
to a branch of the K!ureysh, settled at Tethrib (iledina), 
died before the birth of his son (571), and this son, 
Mohammad, lost his mother when he was only six years 
old. The orphan was adopted by his grandfather, 'Abd- 
el-I\Iuttalib ; and a tender affection sprang up between 
the chief of eighty years and his little grandson. 
Many a day the old man might be seen sitting at his 
wonted place near the Kaabeh, and sharing his mat 
with his favourite. He lived but two years more; and 
at his dying request, his son Aboo-Talib took charge of 



xxxviii J\rRODUCTJOX. 

Mohammad, fov \\'hom lie too ovor sIiowckI a lo\o as (if 
I'atliiu- and motlu'r. 

Sucli is tlio Liiro ontlino of ]\Iol.iammad'a cliildliood ; 
land of Ilia }'oiilh wo luiow about aa HLtlo, Miou,nli tho 
Arabian bioLtvapliios abound in loLjonds, of wliicJi sonio 
'^ niay bo Iruo and most are certainly fa.lsi'. Tlioi'o aro 
storii's of his jounii'yinn'a to .Syria wilJi his niiclc, 
and his cncountoi' with a niystca'ioiis monk of obscui'o 
faitli; lint there is nol-hinii; to sliow for tin's l-a,lo, and 
much to bo brouLjlit against it. All wo c;!,!! say is, 
that Mol.vammad jimbahly assisted bis fa.niily in the wa,r 
of tho J''i,j:lr, and that he must many a tinio, have froi|uiuili(^d 
tho annual Fair of 'Okiidb, lioavinLj tbo soui^s of iJio doscu't 
chiefs and the ]ii'aisi^ of Aral) life, and listening' to tho 
earnest wiu'da of the Jews and dbristians a,nil otboi's who 
camci to the fair, lie was obli^red at an early at;(i to earn 
his own living'; for the noble i'anuly of l,ho llii,sluuioea, to 
wliieh he belonged, was fast losing its comnauiding 
position, whilst anotlior branch of tho Kiii'ey.sh waa 
succeeding to its digniti(is. Tho ]irincely nnini(i(;ene,o (d' 
Itilsliim and'Alid-el-Miittalib was followiul by Ihe |iov(!rl,y 
and decline of their heirs. The duty of lU'oviding tbo 
pilgrims with food was given \\\) by the llii,sliinie,i^s to 
the rival braueli of Umeyycdi, whilst they r(!tain(Ml only tbo 
lighter ollieo of serving watin- to the worsliipjiers. Mo- 
hammad must take his share in tho laboui' of tbo family, 
and he was sent to pasture tho bIkm;]! of tho ICMreysh on 
the finiFaiid valleys round Mekka ; a,ii(l thoiigb the people 
(lespia(;d the shephei'd's eallilig, ho himself was wont to 
look back with ple.asuH! to those (^arly days, saying that 
God calhid never a jii'ojjhet savii from among the sheep- 
folds. And doubtless it was then tliat Ik; develiiped 
that rcllcctive dispositimi of mind whir.b at length 
led him to se,e,k th(; i-eJoi-m of bis peo]>le, wliilst in his 
solitary wa.nd(!rings with tin; shcop be ga,ini:d that mar- 
vellous eye for the beauty and wonder of the (tarth and ] 
sky which resulted in the goi'geuus nature-painting of 



MOHAMMAD. xxxix 

the Kur-an. Yet he was "lad to change this menial 
work for the more lucrative and adventurous post of 
camel-driver to the caravans of his wealthy kinswoman 
Khadeejeh ; and he seems to have taken so kindly to the 
duty, which involved responsibilities, and to have ac- 
quitted himself so worthily, that he attracted the notice of 
his employer, who straightway fell in love with him, and 
presented him with her hand. The marriage was a singu- 
larly happy one, though Mohammad was scarcely twenty- 
five and his wife nearly forty, and it brought him that repose 
and exemption from "daily toil which he needed in order 
to prepare his mind for his great work. But beyond 
that, it gave him a loving woman's heart, that was the 
first to believe in his mission, that was ever ready to con- 
sole him in his despair and to keep alive within him the 
thin flickering flame of hope when no man believed in 
him — not even himself — and the world was black before 
his eyes. 

We know very little of the next fifteen years. Kha- 
deejeh bore him sons and daughters, but only the daughters 
lived. We hear of his joining a league for the protection 
of the weak and oppressed, and there is a legend of his 
having acted with wise tact and judgment as arbitrator in 
a dispute among the great families of Mekka on the occa- 
sion of the rebuilding of the Kaabeh. During this time, 
moreover, he relieved his still impoverished uncle of the 
charge of his son 'Alee — afterwards the Bayard of Islam, 
— and he freed and adopted a certain captive, Zeyd ; and 
these t^ro became his most devoted friends and disciples. 
Such is the short but characteristic record of these fifteen 
years of manhood. We know very little about what 
^Mohammad did, but we hear only one voice as to what 
he was. Up to the age of forty hisjmpr eten ding modest 
way of life had attracted but little notice from his towns- 
people. He was only known as a simple upright man, 
whose life was severely p ure and refiuedj and whose true 
desert sense of honour and faith-keeping had won him 
the high title of El-Emeen, ' the Trusty.' 



xl INTRODUCTION. 

Let us see what fashion of man this was, who was about 
to work a revolution among his countrymen, and change 
the conditions of social life in a vast part of the world. 
The picture ^ is drawn from an older man than we have yet 
seen ; hut Mohammad at forty and Mohammad at fifty or 
more were probably very little different. ' He was of the 
middle height, rather thin, but broad of shoulders, wide of 
chest, strong of bone and muscle. His head was massive, 
strongly developed. Dark hair, slightly curled, flowed in 
a dense mass down almost to his shoulders. Even in- 
advanced age it was sprinkled by only about twenty grey 
hairs — produced by the agonies of his " Eevelations." His 
face was oval-shaped, slightly tawny of colour. Fine, 
long, arched eyebrows were divided by a vein which 
throbbed visibly in moments of passion. Great black 
restless eyes slione out from under long, heavy eyelashes. 
His nose was large, slightly aquiline. His teeth, upon 
which he bestowed great care, were well set, dazzling 
white. A full beard framed his manly face. His slvin 
was clear and soft, his complexion "red and white," his 
hands were as " silk and satin," even as those of a woman. 
His step was quick and elastic, yet firm, and as that of 
one " who steps from a high to a low place." lu turning 
his face he would also turn his full body. His whole gait 
and presence were dignified and imposing. His counte- 
nance was mild and pensive. His laugh was rarely more 
than a smile. . . . 

' In his habits he was extremely simple, though he 
bestowed great care on his person. His eating and drink- 
ing, his dress and his furniture, retained, even when he 
had reached the fulness of power, their almost primitive 
nature. The only luxuries he indulged in were, besides 
arms, which he highly prized, a pair of yellow boots, a 
present from the Negus of Abyss mia! Perfumes, how- 
ever, he loved passionately, being most sensitive of smell. 
Strong drinks he abhorred. 

^ Deutsch. LU. Remains, pp. 70-72. 



MOHAMMAD. xli 

' His constitution was extremely delicate. He was ner- 
vously afraid of bodily pain ; he would sob and roar under 
it. Eminently unpractical in all common things of life, 
he was gifted with mighty powers of imagination, eleva- 
tion of mind, delicacy and refinement of feeling. " He is 
more modest than a virgin behind her curtain," it was said 
of him! lIe'Was"moitindulgent'to~Mslirfefiors, and would 
never allow his awkward little page to be scolded, what- 
ever he did. " TenjyeMs,^|_said Anasjiisservant,^w^ 
about the Prophe t,_aiid_jiejieyerjaid as much as_^jiff ' to 
me/^ He w as very afFect ionat e_towaxd_s__hi3 family. One 
of his boys died on his breast in the smoky house of the 
nurse, a blacksmith's wife. Hejras very fjnd of child ren. 
jHe would stop them in the streets and pat their little 
'cheeks. He never struck _anyLQne_nLhiS-life, The worst 
expression he ever made use of in conversation was, 
" What has come to him ? — may his forehead be darkened 
with mud ! " When asked to curse some one he replied, 
" I have not beOT_sent_tojQurse^but to be a mercy to map - 
kind. " " He visited the sick, followed any bier he met, 
accepted the invitation of a slave to dinner, mended his 
own clothes, milked his goats, and waited upon himself," 
relates summarily another tradition. He never first with- 
drew his hand out of another man's palm, and turned not 
before the other had turned. . . . He was the most faith- 
ful protector of those he protected, the sweetest and most 
agreeable in conversation ; those who saw him were sud- 
denly filled with reverence; those who came near him 
loved him ; they who described him would say, " I have 
never seen his like either before or after." He was of 
great taciturnity ; but when he spoke it was with emphasis 
and deliberation, and iio_one could ev er fOTget what Jie 
said. He was, however, very nervous and restless withal, 
often low-spirited, downcast as to heart and eyes. Yet he 
would at times suddenly break through these broodings, 
become gay, talkative, jocular, chiefly among his own. He 
would then delight in telling little stories, fairy tales, and 



xlil INTRODUCTION. 

the like. He would romp with the children and play 
with their toys.' 

' He lived with his wives in a row of humble cottages, 
separated from one another by palm-branches, cemented 
together with mud. He would kindle the fire, sweep the 
floor, and milk the goats himself. 'Aisheh tells us that 
he slept upon a leathern mat, and that he mended his 
3lothes, and even clouted his shoes, with his own hand. 
For months together ... he did not get a suiiicient meal. 
The little food that he had was always shared with those 
who dropped in to partake of it. Indeed, outside the Pro- 
iphet's house was a bench or gallery, on which were always 
to be found a number of the poor, who lived entirely on 
his generosity, and were hence called the " people of the 
bjneh." His ordinary food was dates and water or barley- 
bread; nii lk and honey were luxuries of which he w as 
fond, but which he rar ely allowed himse lf. The fare of 
the desert seemed most congenial to him, even when he 
was sovereign of Arabia.' ^ 

Mohammad was full forty before he felt himself called 
to be an apostle to his people. If he did not actually wor- 
ship the local deities of the place, at least he made no public 
protest against the fetish worship of the Kureysh. Yet 
in the several phases of his life, in his contact with traders, 
in his association with Zeyd and other men, he had gained 
an insight into better things than idols and human sac- 
rifioes, divining-arrows and mountains and stars. He 
liad heard a dim echo of some ' religion of Abraham ; ' 
he had listened to the stories of the Haggadah ; he 
knew a very little about Jesus of ISTazareth. He seems 
to have suffered long under the burden of doubt and self- 
distrust. He used to wander about the hills alone, brood- 
ing over these things ; he shunned the society of men, and 
' solitude became a passion to him.' 

At length came the crisis. He was spending the 

' E. Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, 2d ed. p. 131. 



MOHAMMAD. xliii 

sacred months on Mount Hira, ' a huge barren rock, 
torn by cleft and hollow ravine, standing out solitary in 
the full white glare of the desert sun, shadowless, Hower- 
less, without well or rill.' Here in a cave Mohammad 
gave himself up to prayer and fasting. Long months or 
even years of doubt had increased his nervous excitable 
disposition. He had had, they say,^catale£tiefitsduring 
his_childhood, and was evidently more delicately and 
finely constituted than those around him. Given this 
nervous nature, and the grim solitude of the hill where he 
had, almost lived for long weary months, blindly feeling 
after some truth upon which to rest his soul, it is not dif- 
ficult to believe the tradition of the cave, that Mohammad 
heard a voice say, ' Cry ! ' ' What shall I cry ? ' he an- 
swers — the question that has been burning his heart dur- 
ing all his mental struggles — ■ 

Cry ^ ! in the name of thy Lord, who hath created ; 

He hath created man from a clot of blood. 

Cry ! and thy Lord is the Most Bountiful, 

Who hath taught [writing] by the pen : 

He hath taught man that which he knew not. 

Mohammad arose trembling, and went to Khadeejeh, and 
told her what he had seen ; and she did her woman's part, 
and believed in him and soothed his terror, and bade him 
hope for the future. Yet he could not believe in himself. 
"Was he not perhaps mad, possessed by a devil ? Were 
these voices of a truth from God ? And so he went again 
on his solitary wanderings, hearing strange sounds, and 
thinking them at one time the testimony of Heaven, 
at another the temptiugs of Satan or the ravings of 
madness. Doubting, wondering, hoping, he had fain 
put an end to a life which had become intolerable in its 
changings from the heaven of hope to the hell of despair, 
when again he heard the voice, ' Thou art the messenger 
of God, and I am Gabriel.' Conviction at length seized 

'recite.' These lines are the beginning of the 96th Soorah 



xliv INTRODUCTION. 

hold upon him ; he was indeed to bring a message of good 
tidings to the Arabs, the message of God through His 
angel Gabriel. He went back to Khadeejeh exhausted in 
mind and body. ' Wrap me, wrap me,' he said ; and the 
word came unto him — 

O thou enwrapped in thy mantle 

Arise and warn ! 

And tby Lord, — magnify Him ! 

And thy raiment, — purify it ! 

And the abomination, — flee it ! 

And bestow not favours that thou mayest receive again 

with increase, 
And for thy Lord wait thou patiently. 

There are those who see imposture in all this ; for such 
I have no answer. Nor does it matter whether in a hys- 
terical fit or under any physical disease soever Mohammad 
saw these visions and heard these voices. We are not 
concerned to draw the lines of demarcation between 
enthusiasm and ecstasy and inspiration. It is suf- 
ficient that Mohammad did see these things — the sub- 
jective creations of a tormented mind. It is sufficient 
that he believed them to be a message from on hio;h, and 
that for years of neglect and persecution and for years of 
triumph and conquest he acted upon his belief. 

Mohammad now (612) came forward as the Apostle of 
the One God to the people of Arabia : he was at last well 
assured that his God was of a truth the God, and that He 
had indeed sent him with a message to his people, that 
they too might turn from their idols and serve the living 
God. He was in the minority of one, but he was no 
longer afraid ; he had learnt that self-trust which is the 
condition of all true work. At first he spoke to his near 
kinsmen and friends ; and it is impossible to overrate the 
importance of the fact that his closest relations and those 
who lived under his roof were the first to believe and the 
staunchest of faith. The prophet who is with honour 
in his own home need appeal to no stronger proof of his 
sincerity, and that Mohammad was 'a hero to his own 



MOHAMMAD. xlv 

valet ' is an invincible argument for his earnestness. The 
motherly Khadeejeh had at once, with a woman's instinct, 
divined her husband's heart and confirmed his fainting 
hope by her firm faith in him. His dearest friends, 
Zeyd and 'Alee, were the next converts; and though, 
to his grief, he could never induce his lifelong pro- 
tector, Aboo-Talib, to abandon the gods of his fathers, 
yet the old man loved him none the less, and said, when 
he heard of 'Alee's conversion, ' Well, my son, he wiU. not 
call thee to aught save what is good ; wherefore thou art 
free to cleave unto him.' A priceless aid was gained in 
the accession of Aboo-Bekr, who succeeded Mohammad 
as the first Khalif of Islam, and whose calm judgment and 
quick sagacity, joined to a gentle and compassionate heart, 
were of incalculable service to the faith. Aboo-Bekr was 
one of the wealthiest merchants of Mekka, and exercised no 
small influence among his fellow-citizens, no less by his 
character than his position. Like Mohammad, he had 
a nickname, Es-Siddeek, ' The True : ' The True, and The 
Trusty, — no mean augury for the future of the religion ! 

Five converts followed in Aboo-Bekr's steps; among 
them 'Othman, the third Khalif, and Talhah, the man of 
war. The ranks of the faithful were swelled from humbler 
sources. There were many negro slaves in Mekka, and of 
them not a few had been predisposed by earlier teaching 
to join in the worship of the One God ; and of those who 
were first converted was the Abyssinian Bilal, the original 
Mueddin of Islam, and ever a devoted disciple of the 
Prophet. These and others from the Kureysh raised the 
number of Muslims to more than thirty souls by the 
fourth year of Mohammad's mission — thirty in three long 
years, and few of them men of influence ! 

This small success had been achieved with very little 
qpposiMon_from th^idolaters. Mohammad had not spoken 
much in public ; and when he did speak to strangers, he 
restrained himself from attacking their worship, and only 
enjoined them to worship the One God who had created 



xlvi INTRODUCTION. 

all things. The people were rather interested, and won- 
dered whether he were a soothsayer or madman, or if 
indeed there were truth in his words. But now (a.D. 615) 
Mohammad entered upon a more public career. He sum- 
moned tlie^ureyshtoa conference at the hill of Es- Saf a, and 
said, ' I am come to you as a warner, and as the f orerunneri 
of a fearful punishment. ... I cannot protect you in this 
world, nor can I promise you aught in the next life, unless 
ye say. There is no God but Allah.' He was laughed 
to scorn, and the assembly broke up; but from jthis time 
he cea sed not to preach to the people_ofa punish ment 
that would come upon ttie~unbelievingcity. He told 
them, in the fiery languigeUfThe early soorahs, how God 
had punished the old tribes of the Arabs who would not 
believe in His messengers, how the Plood had swallowed 
up the people who would not hearken to Noah. He 
swore unto them, by the wonderful sights of nature, by 
the noonday brightness, by the night when she spreadeth 
her veil, by the day when it appeareth in glory, that a 
like destruction would assuredly come upon them if they 
did not turn away from their idols and serve God alone. 
He enforced his message with every resource of language 
and metaphor, till he made it burn in the ears of the 
people. And then he told them of the Last Day, when a 
just reckoning should be taken of the deeds they had 
done ; and he spoke of Paradise and Hell with all the 
glow of Eastern imagery. The people were moved, terri- 
fied; conversions increased. It was time the Kureysh 
should take some step. If the idols were destroyed, 
what would come to them, the keepers of the idols, and 
their renown throughout the land ? How should they 
retain the allegiance of the neighbouring tribes who came 
to worship their several divinities at the Kaabeh ? That 
a few should follow the ravings of a madman or magician 
who preferred one god above the beautiful deities of Mukka 
was little matter ; but that some leading men of the city 
should j oin the sect, and that the magician should terrify the 



MOHAMMAD. xlvii 

people in open day with his denunciations of the worship 
which they superintended, was intolerable. The chiefs 
were seriously alarmed, and resolved on a more active 
policy. Hitherto they had merely ridiculed the pro- 
fessors of this new faith ; they would now take stronger 
measures. Mohammad himself they dared not touch; for 
he belonged to a noble family, which, though it was 
reduced and impoverished, had deserved well of the city, 
and which, moreover, was now headed by a man who 
was reverenced throughout Mekka, and was none other 
than the adoptive father and protector of Mohammad 
himself. Xor was it safe to attack the other chief 
men among the Muslims, for the blood-revenge was 
no light risk. They were thus compelled to content 
themselves with the mean satisfa ction of torturing the 
black slaves who had joined the obnoxious faction. They \ 
exposed them on the scorching sand, and withheld water 
tin they recanted — which they did, only to profess they 
faith once more when they were let go. The first Mued- 
din alone remained steadfast : as he lay half stiiied he 
would only answer, 'Ahad ! Ahad !' — ' One [God] ! One ! ' — 
till Aboo-Bekr came and bought his freedom, as he was 
wont to do for many of the miserable victims. Moham- 
mad was very gentle with these forced renegades : he 
knew what stuff men are made of, and he bade them be 
of good cheer for their lips, so that their hearts were sound. [. 
At last, moved by the sufferings of his lowly followers, 
he advised them to seek a refuge in Abyssinia — ' a land 
of righteousness, wherein no man is wronged;' and in the 
fifth year of his mission (6i6) eleven men and four women 
left ]\Iekka secretly, and were received in Abyssinia with 
welcome and peace. These first emigrants were followed 
by more the next year, till the number reached one 
hundred. The Kureysh were very wroth at the escape of 
their victims, and sent ambassadors to the Kejashee, the 
Christian king of Abyssinia, to demand that the refugees 
should be given up to them. But the Nejashee assembled 



xlviii INTRODUCTION. 

his bishops and sent for the Muslims and asked them why 
they had fled; and one of them answered and said — 

' king ! we lived in ignorance, idolatry, and unchas- 
tity ; the strong oppressed the weak ; we spoke untruth ; 
we violated the duties of hospitality. Then a prophet 
arose, one whom we knew from our youth, with whose 
descent and conduct and good faith and morality we are 
all well acquainted. He told us to worship one God, to 
speak truth, to keep good faith, to assist our relations, to 
fulfil the rights of hospitality, and to abstain from all 
things impure, ungodly, unrighteous. And he ordered us 
to say prayers, give alms, and to fast. "We believed in 
him ; we followed him. But our countrymen persecuted 
us, tortured us, and tried to cause us to forsake our reli- 
gion ; and now we throw ourselves upon thy protection. 
Wilt thou not protect us ? ' And he recited a chapter of 
the Kur-an, which spoke of Christ ; and the king and the 
bishops wept upon their beards. And the king dismissed 
the messengers and would not give up the men. 

The Kureysh, foiled in their attempt to recapture the 
slaves, vented their malice on those believers who remained. 
Insults were heaped upon the Muslims, and persecution 
grew hotter each day. For a moment Mohammad faltered 
in his work. Could he not spare his people these suffer- 
ings ? Was it impossible to reconcile the religion of the 
city with the belief in one supreme God ? After all, was 
the worship of those idols so false a thing ? did it not hold 
the germ of a great truth ? And so Mohammad made his 
first and last concession. He recited a revelation to the 
Kureysh, in which he spoke respectfully of the three moon- 
L goddesses, and asserted that their intercessionrwith"God 
mighTlDe hoped for : ' Wherefore bow down before God 
and serve Him;' and the whole audience, overjoyed at 
I the compromise, bowed down and worshipped at the name 
1 of the God of Mohammad — the whole city was reconciled 
to the double religion. But this Dreamer of the Desert 
was not the man to rest upon a lie. At the price of the 



JfOffA.UJfAP. x-.ix 

■whole ciiT of ^Mekka he ■wotdd not remain untrue to him- 
self. He came forward and said he had done "wrong 
— ^the devil had tempted him. He openly and frankly 
retracted -what he had said: and 'As for their idols, 
thev -were hut empty names -which they and their fathers 
had iavented.' 

"Western hiographers have rejoiced greatly over '^Lo- 
hammads fall' Tet it -was a tempting compromise, and 
few would have withstood it. And the life of Moham- 
mad is not the li fe of a god. hut of a man : from first 
to last it is intensely human. But if for once he was 



not superior to the temptation of gaining over the whole 
city and obtaining peace where before there was only 
bitter persecution, what can we say of his manfully 

thrtistic::: tack the rich prize he had gained, freely 
confessing his fault, and resolutely giving himself o^'e^ 
again to the old indignities and instilts ? If he was 
once insincere — and who is not ? — ^how intrepid was his 
after-sincerity' He was untrue to himself for a while, 
and he is ever referring to it in his pubhc preaching with 
shame and remorse; but the false step was mere than 
atoned for by his magnificent recantation. 

Mohammad's influence with the people at large was 
certainly weakened by this temporary cnange cf front, 
and the opposition of the leaders of the Ktueysh, checked 
for the moment by the Prophet's concession, now that he 
had repttdiated it, hr:ke forth into fiercer fiame. They 
heaped insnits upon him, and he could n:: traverse 
the c::y without the encounter of a curse. They threw 
unclean things at him, ana vexed him in his every doing. 
Ti:e protection of Ahoo-Taiib alone saved him from 
personal danger. This refuge the Knreysh determined 
to remove. They had attempted before, but had been 
turned back with a scft answer. They now went to 
the chief, of fottrscore years, and demanded that he 
should either compel his nephew to hold his peace, or 
vise that he should withdraw his protection. Having 

d 



1 INTRODUCTION. 

thus spoken they departed. The old man sent for Moham- 
mad, and told him what they had said. ' ISTow therefore 
save thyself and me also, and cast not upon me a burden 
heavier than I can bear ; ' for he was grieved at the strife 
between his family and his wider kindred, and would fain 
have seen Mohammad temporize with the Kureysh. But 
though the Prophet believed that at length his uncle was 
indeed about to abandon him, his courage and high resolve 
never faltered. ' Though they should set the sun on my 
right hand and the moon on my left to persuade me, yet 
while God commands me I will not renounce my pur- 
pose.' But to lose his uncle's love ! — he burst into tears, 
and turned to go. But Aboo-'Talib called aloud, 'Son 
of my brother, come back.' So he came. And he said, 
' Depart in peace, my nephew, and say whatsoever thou 
desirest ; for, by the Lord, I will never deliver thee up.' 

The faithfulness of Aboo-'Talib was soon to be tried. 
At first, indeed, things looked brighter. The old chief's 
firm bearing overawed the Kureysh, and they were still 
more cowed by two great additions that were now joined 
to the Muslim ranks. One was Mohammad's uncle, 
Hamzeh, ' the Lion of God,' a mighty hunter and warrior 
of the true Arab mettle, whose sword was worth twenty of 
weaker men to the cause of Islam. The other was 'Omar, 
afterwards Khalif, whose fierce impulsive nature had 
hitherto marked him as a violent opponent of the new 
faith, but who afterwards proved himself one of the main- 
stays of Islam. The gain of two such men first frightened 
then maddened the IJureysh. The leaders met together 
and consulted what they should do. It was no longer a 
case of an enthusiast followed by a crowd of slaves and a 
few worthy merchants; it was a faction led by stout 
warriors, such as Hamzeh, Talhah, 'Omar, — half-a-dozen 
picked swordsmen ; and the Muslims, emboldened by their 
new allies, were boldly surrounding the Kaabeh, and per- 
forming the rites of their religion in the face of all the 
people. The ^^ureysh resolved on extreme measures. 



MOilAMMAD. li 

They determined to shut off the obnoxious family of the 
Hashimees from the rest of their kindred. The chiefs 
drew up a document, in which they vowed that they 
would not marry with the Hashimees, nor buy and sell 
with them, nor hold with them any communication soever; 
and this they hung up in the Kaabeh. 

The Hashimees were not many enough to fight the 
whole city, so they went every man of them, save one, to 
the shi-b (or quarter) of Aboo-TaUb, — a long, narrow 
mountain defile on the eastern skirts of Mekka, cut off by 
rocks or walls from the city, except for one narrow gate- 
way, — and there shut themselves up. Por though the ban 
did not forbid them to go about as heretofore, they knew 
that no soul would speak: with them, and that they would 
be subject to the maltreatment of any vagabond they met. 
So they collected their stores and waited. Every man of 
the family, Muslim or Pagan, cast in his lot with their 
common kinsman, ilohammad, saving only his own uncle, 
Aboo-Lahab, a determinM_ra^my^Jo^damjjto whom a 
social denunci ation is justly_consec Tated in the KjiEan. 
. I'or two long years the Hashimees remained shut up in 
their quarter. Only at the pilgrimage-tinie — when the 
blessed institution of the sacred months made violence 
sacrilege — could Mohammad come forth and speak unto 
the people of the things that were in his heart to say. 
Scarcely any converts were made during this weary time ; 
and most of those who had previously been converted, 
and did not belong to the doomed clan, took refuge in 
Abyssinia; so that in the seventh year of Mohammad's 
mission there were probably not more than twelve iluslims 
of any weight who remained by him. Still the Hashimees 
remained in their quarter. It seemed as if they must all 
perish: their stores were almost gone, and the cries of 
starving children could be heard outside. Kind-hearted 
neighbours would sometimes smuggle-in a camel's load of 
food, but it availed little. The Kureysh themselves were 
getting ashamed of their work, and were wishing for an 



lii INTRODUCTION. 

excuse for releasing their kinsmen. The excuse came in 
time. It was discovered that the deed of ban was eaten 
up by worms, and Aboo-Talib turned the discovery to his 
advantage. The venerable old chief went out and met 
the Kureysh at the Kaabeh, and pointing to the crum- 
bling leaf he bitterly reproached them with their hard- 
ness of heart towards their brethren: then he departed. 
And straightway there rose up five chiefs, heads of great 
families, and, amid the murmurs of the fiercer spirits who 
were still for no quarter, they put on their armour, and 
going to the shi-b of Aboo-Talib, bade the Hashimees 
come forth in peace. And they came forth. 

It was now the eighth year of Mohammad's mission; 
and for the last two years, wasted in excommunication, 
Islam had almost stood still, at least externally. For 
though Mohammad's patient bearing under the ban had 
gained over a few of his imprisoned clan to his side, he 
had made no converts beyond the walls of his quarter. 
During the sacred months he had gone forth to speak to 
the people, — to the caravans of strangers and the folk at 
the fairs, — but he had no success ; for hard behind him 
followed Aboo-Lahab, the squinter, who mocked at him, 
and told the people he was only ' a liar and a sabian.' 
And the people answered that his own kindred must best 
know what he was, and they would hear nothing from 
him. The bold conduct of the five chiefs had indeed 
secured for Molianimad a temporary respite from persecu- 
tion ; but this relief was utterly outweighed by the troubles 
that now fell upon him and fitly gave that year the name 
of ' The Year of Mourning.' For soon after the revoking of 
the ban Aboo-Talib died, and five weeks later Khadeejeh. 
In the first Mohammad lost his ancient protector, who, 
though he would never give up his old belief, had yet 
faithfully guarded the Prophet from his childhood up- 
wards, and, with the true Arab sentiment of kinship, had 
subjected himself and his clan to years of persecution and 
poverty in order to defend his brother's son from his 



MOHAMMAD. liii 

enemies. The death of Khadeejeh was even a heavier 
calamity to Mohammad. She first had believed in him, 
and she had ever been his angel of hope and consolation. 
To his death he cherished a tender regret for her; and 
when his young bride 'Ai'sheh, the favourite of his declining 
years, jealously abused 'that toothless old woman,' he 
answered with indignation, 'When I was poor, she enriched i 
me ; when they called me a liar, she alone believed in me ; 
when all the world was against me, she alone remained 
true.' 

Mohammad might well feel himself alone in the world. 
Most of his followers were in Abyssinia ; only a few tried 
friends remained at Mekka. All the city was against 
him ; his protector was dead, and his faithful wife. De- 
jected, almost hopeless, he would try a new field. If 
Mekka rejected him, might not Et-Taif give him welcome ? 
He set out on foot on his journey of seventy miles, taking 
only^^Ze yd w ith him; "and he tolJ~ffie"people~ofEt-Taif 
his simple message. They stoned him out of the city for 
three miles. Bleeding and fainting, he paused to rest in 
an orchard, to recover strength before he went back to the 
insults of his own people. The owners of the place sent 
him some grapes ; and he gathered up his strength once 
more, and bent his weary feet towards Mekka. On the 
way, as he slept, his fancy called up a strange dream : men 
had rejected him, and now bethought he saw the Jinn, the 
spirits of the air, falling down and worshipping the One 
God, and bearing witness to the truth of Islam. Heartened 
by the vision, he pushed on ; and when Zeyd asked him if 
he did not fear to throw himself again into the hands of 
the Kureysh, he answered, ' God will protect His religion, 
and help His prophet.' 

So this lonely man came back to dwell among his 
enemies. Though a brave Arab gentleman, compassionat- 
ing his aloneness, gave him the Bedawee pledge of protec- 
tion, yet he well knew that the power of his foes made 
such protection almost useless, and at any time he might 



liv INTRODUCTION. 

be assassinated. But the Kureysh had not yet come to 
think of the last resource, and meanwhile a new prospect 
was opening out for Mohammad. That same year, as he 
was visiting the caravans of the pilgrims who had come 
from all parts of Arabia to worship at the Kaabeh, he 
found a group of men of Yethrib who were willing to 
listen to his words. He expounded to them the faith he 
was sent to preach, and he told them how his people had 
rejected him, and asked them whether Yethrib would 
receive him. The men were impressed with his words 
and professed Islam, and promised to bring news the next 
year ; then they returned home and talked of this matter 
to their brethren. Now at Yethrib, besides two pagan 
tribes that had migrated upwards from the south, there 
were three clans of Jewish Arabs. Between the pagans 
and Jews, and then between the two pagan clans, there 
had been deadly wars ; and now there were many parties 
in the city, and no one was master. The Jews, on the 
one hand, were expecting their Messiah ; the pagans 
looked f Of a prophet. If Mohammad were not the Mes- 
siah, the Jews thought that he might at least be their 
tool to subdue their pagan rivals. ' Whether he is a pro- 
phet or not,' said the pagans, ' he is our kinsman by his 
mother, and will help us to overawe the Jews ; and if he 
is the coming prophet, it is our policy to recognise him 
before those Jews who are always threatening us with 
their Messiah.' The teaching of Mohammad \^as so nearly 
Jewish, that a union of the two creeds might be hoped 
for ; whilst to the pagan Arabs of Yethrib monotheism was 
no strange doctrine. All parties were therefore willing 
to receive Mohammad and at least try the experiment of 
his influence. As a peace-maker, prophet, or messiah, he 
would be equally welcome in a city torn asunder by party 
jealousies. 

When the time of pilgrimage again came round, Mo- 
hammad waited at the appointed place in a secluded glen, 
and there met him men from the two pagan tribes of 



TerJirib — lae c!a~5 of Kiairs; ani A'^' — rer irj::r: oce 
sr ,i rwv> rr;ia the other. IheT rcli hiza cf die 's-illir_~::esi 
of lieir r^ecrie to enbzs;^ Islsr:. szii :heir !i?tv io irske 
ready riie cirr f::r his wrlxrie. Ihey rli -z:ei their iaiih 
Airim ^'"1 is iese toic? : ■ We "will no: ^rcrs hiu save one 
G-r-i; we iriH rrc stesl. ncr ecrindt aiiltery. ncr iill c:ir 
cii-ir^n ; ire "will i:; ne^srise siszicer. ner ■«ill -we dis: aey 

rlei^ of tie "Akil^eli. 

The tirehT? mea ci Terlirib -srenr ra^\k ani rtej-iiei 

Islam ;^' their rerrle. " S'O rrersirei wss the cr:nri. s,^ 

faith srresud rariil^y ff^zn h;-^e t.!? hrtise sri'i frrra trite to 
tr;'?>?. The Je'ws Ic-oiei 011 in sznaremetrt at the peetle, 
"whm they had in vais eadeavetireMi f:r rereratims t.;" 
;ctiTi-:e cf the errtt? :f rdyrheisn an«i disszaie fecm 
the sh'taniisiiiitts cf iiolatrv. sttiierlv ari. cf their csra 

G-cd alctie/ They s^ke-i Mcha" — ad to seni them a 
teaiher versi^d in the Stisiiz:. sc» arVc-s were they t: 
know Ishin trdy : ari Mnsab was sent, and tatz^ht them 

St Tethrih. 

Mehi.i His is iw w an attitnd e of waitinc: ; he is hstetiin^ 

r:»t rr^ea^t so ninth as heretcftre. He h.lis his reaje 

and its fcZc-wers are silent and reserved The Knreysh 
are ~vvtn* at tne ceasing ex tncse centinciaticns '^mc-n 
teirinei whilst they ancere-d them, yet they aie nit q^nite 
satisned The Jlnslims have a w.iinnc: Icih. as th;n_;h 
di»e were sjniet"~""~,j at hand 

It "snas dnrfn;: this year of eitectati?!! that the Pporhet's 
celehrated ° }^^ht Jonrnev t xx nlace. This Mini" has 



Jvi INTRODUCTION. 

been the subject of extravagant embellishments on the 
part of the traditionists and commentators, and the cause 
of much obloquy to the Prophet from his religious op- 
ponents. Mohammad dreamed a dream, and referred to it 
briefly and obscurely in the Kur-an. His followers persisted 
in believing it to have been a reality — an ascent to heaven 
in the body — till Mohammad was sick of repeating his 
simple assertion that it was a dream. The traditional form 
of this wonderful vision may be read in any life of Moham- 
mad, and though it is doubtless very different from the 
story the Prophet himself gave, it is stiU a grand vision, 
fuU of glorious imagery, fraught with deep meaning. 

Again the time of pilgrimage came round, and again 
Mohammad repaired to the glen of the Mountain-road. 
Mus'ab had told him the good tidings of the spread of the 
faith at Yethrib, and he was met at the rendezvous by more 
than seventy men. They came by twos and threes secretly 
for fear of the Kureysh, ' waking not the sleeper, nor tarry- 
ing for the absent.' Then Mohammad recited to them 
verses from the Kur-an, and in answer to their invitation 
that he should come to them, and their profession that their 
lives were at his service, he asked them to pledge themselves 
to defend him as they would their own wives and children. 
And a murmur of eager assent rolled round about from 
the seventy, and an old man, one of their chiefs, stood 
forth and said, 'Stretch out thy hand, Mohammad.' 
And the chief struck his own hand into Mohammad's 
palm in the frank Bedawee fashion, and thus pledged his 
fealty. Man after man the others followed, and struck 
their hands upon Mohammad's. Then he chose twelve of 
them as leaders over the rest, saying, ' Moses chose from 
among his people twelve leaders. Ye shall be the sureties 
for the rest, even as the apostles of Jesus were ; and I am 
the surety for my people.' A voice of some stranger was 
heard near by, and the assembly hastily dispersed and 
stole back to their camp. This is the second pledge of 
the 'Akabeh. 



MOHAMMAD. Ivii 

The ]yiireysh knew that some meeting had taken place, 
and though they could not hring home the offence to any 
of the Yethrih pilgrims, they kept a stricter watch on the 
movements of Mohammad and his friends after the pilgrims 
had returned homeward. It was clear that Mekka was no 
longer a safe place for the Muslims, and a few days after 
the second pledge IMohammad told his followers to betake 
themselves secretly to Yethrib. For two months at the 
beginning of the eleventh year of the mission (622) the 
Muslims were leaving Mekka in small companies to make 
the journey of 250 miles to Yethrib. One hundred families 
had gone, and whole quarters of the city were deserted, 
left with empty houses and locked doors, ' a prey to woe and 
wind.' There were but three believers now remaining in 
Mekka — these were Mohammad, Aboo-Bekr, and 'Alee. 
Like the captain of a sinking ship, the Prophet would not 
leave till all the c rew were saf e. But now they were all 
gone save his two early friends, and everything was ready for 
the journey; still the Prophet did not go. But the Kureysh, 
who had been too much taken by surprise to prevent the 
emigration, now prepared measures for a summary ven- 
gence on the disturber of their peace and the emptier of 
their city. They set a watch on his house, and, it is said, 
commissioned a band of armed youths of different families 
to assassinate him together, that the blood recompense 
might not fall on one household alone. But ilohammad 
had warning of his danger, and leaving 'Alee to deceive 
the enemy, he was concealed with Aboo-Bekr in a narrow- 
mouthed cave on Mount Thor, an hour-and-a-half's journey 
from ]\Iekka, before the Kureysh knew of his escape. Por 
three days they remained hidden there, while their enemies 
were searching the country for them. Once they were 
. very near, and Aboo-Bekr trembled : — ' "We are but two.' 
' Xay,' answered Jlohammad, ' we are three, for God is 
wiAus.'" And a spider, they say, wove its web oveF the 
entrance of the cave, so that the i^ureysh passed on, think- 
ing that no man had entered there. 



Iviii INTRODUCTION. 

On the third night the pursuit had been almost given 
over, and the two fugitives took up their journey again. 
Mounted on camels they journeyed to Yethrib. In eight 
days they reached the outskirts of the city (September 
622). Mohammad was received with acclamation, and 
took up his residence among his kindred. Th6__seat_.of 
Islam was transferred from Mekka to Yethrib , hencefor- 
ward to be^knownTaiTIedina, — Medeenet-en-Nebee, 'the 
City of the Prophet.' 

This is the Hijreh, or Flight of the Prophet, from which 
the Muslims date their history. Their first year began 
on the i6th day of June of the Year of Grace 622. 



A great change now comes over the Prophet's life. It 
is still the same man, but the surroundings are totally 
different; the work to be done is on a wider, rougher 
stage. Thus far we have seen a gentle, thoughtful boy 
tending the sheep round Mekka ; — a young man of little 
note, of whom the people only knew that he was pure 
and upright and true ; — then a man of forty whose soli- 
tary communion with his soul has pressed him to the 
last terrible questions that each man, if he will think at 
all, must some time ask himself — What is life ? What 
does this world mean ? What is reality, what is truth ? 
Long months, years perhaps, we know not how long and 
weary, filled with the tortures of doubt and the despair of 
ever attaining to the truth, filled with the dreary thought 
of his aloneness in the relentless universe, and the lone- 
ing to end it all, brought at last their fruits — sure convic- 
tion of the great secret of Life, a firm belief in the Creator 
in whom all things live and move and have their beincf, 
whom to serve is man's highest duty and privilege, the 
one thing to be done. And then ten years of struggling 
with careless, unthinking idolaters; ten years of slow 



MOHAMMAD. lix 

results, the gaining over of a few close friends, the deToted 
attachment of some slayes and men of the meaner rank ; 
finally, the conversion of half-a-dozen great citizen chiefs, 
ending in the flight of the whole brotherhood of believers 
from their native city and their welcome to a town of 
strangers, where the faith had forced itself home to the 
hearts of perhaps two hundred citizens. It ■was but 
little that was done ; so many years of toU, of indomitable 
courage and perseverance and long-suffering, and only 
about three hundred converts at the end ! But it was the 
seed of a great harvest. Mohammad had shown men what 
he was ; the nobOity of his character, his strong friend- 
ship, his endurance and courage, above all, his earnestness 
and fiery enthusiasm for the truth he came to preach, — 
these things had revealed the hero, the master whom it 
was alike impossible to disobey and impossible not to love. 
Henceforward it is only a question of time. As the men 
of Medina come to know Mohammad, they too will devote 
themselves to him body and soul; and the enthusiasm 
will catch fire and spread among the tribes till all Arabia 
is at the feet of the Prophet of the One God. ' Xo emperor 
with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of His 
own clouting.' He had the gift of influencing men, and 
he had the nobility only to influence them for good. 

We have now to see Mohammad as king. Though he 
came as a fugitive, rejected as an impostor by his own 
citizens, yet it was not long before his word was supreme 
in his adopted city. He had to rule over a mixed and 
divided people, and this must have helped him to the 
supreme voice. There were four distinct parties at ile- 
dina. First, the 'Eefugees ' (iluhajiroon), who had fled from 
Mekka ; on these Mohammad could always rely with im- 
plicit faith. But he attached equal importance to the early 
converts of Medina, who had invited him among them and 
given him a home when the future seemed very hopeless 
before him, and who were thenceforward known by the 
honourable title of the ' Helpers ' (Ansar). How devoted 



Ix INTRODUCTION. 

was the affection of these men is shown by the well- 
known scene at El-Ji'raneh, when the Helpers were dis- 
contented with their share of the spoils, and Mohammad 
answered, ' "Why are ye disturbed in mind because of the 
things of this life wherewith I have sought to incline the 
hearts of these men of Mekka into Islam, whereas ye are 
already steadfast in the faith ? Are ye not satisfied that 
others should obtain the flocks aud the camels, while ye 
carry back the Prophet of the Lord unto your homes ? 
ISTay, I will not leave you for ever. If all mankind went 
one way, and the men of Medina went another way, verily 
I would go the way of the men of Medina. The Lord be 
favourable unto them, and bless them, and their sons, and 
their sons' sons, for ever ! ' And the ' Helpers ' wept upon 
their beards, and cried with one voice, ' Yea, we are well 
satisfied, Prophet, with our lot.' To retain the allegi- 
ance of the Eefugees and the Helpers was never a trouble 
to Mohammad; the only difficulty was to rein in their 
zeal and hold them back from doing things of blood and 
vengeance on the enemies of Islam. To prevent the dan- 
ger of jealousy between the Eefugees and the Helpers, 
Mohammad assigned each Kefugee to one of the Ausar 
to be his brother; and this tie of gossipry superseded 
all nearer ties, tiU Mohammad saw the time was over 
when it was needed. The third party in Medina was 
that of the ' Disaffected,' or in the language of Islam 
the ' Hypocrites ' (Munafikoon). This was composed of 
the large body of men who gave in their nominal allegi- 
ance to Mohammad and his religion when they saw they 
coiJ-d not safely withstand his power, but who were always 
ready to turn about if they thought there was a chance of 
his overthrow. Mohammad treated these men and their 
leader 'Abdallah ibn Ubayy (who himself aspired to the 
sovranty of Medina) with patient courtesy and friend- 
liness, and, though they actually deserted him more than 
once at vitally critical moments, he never retaliated, even 
when he was strong enough to crush them, but rather 



MOHAMMAD. Ixi 

souglit to win them over heartily to his cause hy treating 
them as though they ■were what he would have them be. 
The result was that this party gradually diminished and 
became absorbed in the general mass of earnest Muslims, 
and though up to its leader's death it constantly called 
forth ^lohammad's powers of conciliation, after that it 
vanished from the history of parties. 

The fourth party was the real thorn in the Prophet's 
side. It consisted of the .Je'^'s, of whom three tribes were 
settled in the suburbs of Medina. They had at first been 
well disposed to Mohammad's coming. He could not 
indeed be the ^lessiah, because he was not of the lineage 
of David; but he woidd do very well to pass off upon 
their neighbours, the pagan Arabs, as, if not the ^Messiah, 
at least a great prophet ; and by his influence the Jews 
might regain their old supremacy in Medina. !Moham- 
mad's teaching was very nearly Jewish — they had taught 
him the fables of their Haggadah, and he believed in their 
prophets — why should he not be one of them and help 
them to the dominion? When Mohammad came, they 
found out their mistake ; instead of a tool they had a 
master. He told the people, indeed, the stories of the 
]\Iidrash, and he professed to revive the religion of Abra- 
ham : but he added to this several damning articles ; he 
t:.ught that Jesus was the Messiah, and that no other 
Messiah was to be looked for; and, moreover, whilst rever- 
encing and inculcating the doctrine of the Hebrew prophets 
and of Christ, as he knew it, he yet insisted on liis own 
mission as in nowise inferior to theirs — as, in fact, the seal 
of prophecy by which all that went before was confirmed 
or abrogated. The illusion was over; the Jews would 
have nothing to say to Islam : they set themselves instead 
to oppose it, ridicule it, and vex its Preacher iu every way 
that their notorious ingenuity could devise. 

The step was false : the Jews missed their game, and 
they had to pay for it. "Whether it was possible to form 
a coalition, — whether the Jews might have induced Mo- 



Ixii INTRODUCTION. 

hammad to waive certain minor points if they recognised 
his prophetic mission, — it is difficult to say. It seems most 
probable that Mohammad -would not have yielded a jot to 
their demands, and would have accepted nothing short of 
unconditional surrender to his religion. And it is at least 
doubtful whether Islam would have gained anything by a 
further infusion of Judaism. It already contained all that 
it could assimilate of the Hebrew faith ; the rest was too 
narrow for the universal scope of Islam. The religion of 
Mohammad lost little, we may be sure, \,j the standing 
aloof of the Arabian Jews ; but the Jews themselve" lost 
much. Mohammad, indeed, treated them kindly so long 
as kindness was possible. He made a treaty with them, 
whereby the rights of the Muslims and the Jews were 
defined. They were to practise their several religions un- 
molested ; protection and security were promised to all the 
parties to the treaty, irrespective of creed ; each was to 
help the other if attacked ; no alliance was to be made 
with the IJureysh ; war was to be made in common, and 
no war could be made without the consent of Mohammad : 
crime alone could do away with the protection of this 
treaty. 

But the Jews would not content themselves with stand- 
ing aloof; they must needs act on the offensive. They 
began by asking Mohammad hard questions out of their 
law, and his answers they easily refuted from their books. 
They denied all knowledge of the Jewish stories in the 
Kur-an — though they knew that they came from their own 
Haggadah, which was ever in their mouths in their own 
quarter, — and they showed him their Bible, where, of 
course, the Haggadistic legends were not to be found. 
Mohammad had but one course open to him — to say they 
had suppressed or changed their books ; and he denounced 
them accordingly, and said that his was the true account 
of the patriarchs and prophets, revealed from heaven. Not 
satisfied with tormenting Mohammad with questions on 
that Torah which they were always wrangling about them- 



MOHAMMAD. Ixiii 

selves, they took hold of the every day formulas of Islam, 
the daily prayers and ejaculations, and, ' twisting their 
tongues,' mispronounced them so that they meant some- 
thing absurd or blasphemous. When asked v^hich they 
preferred, Islam or idolatry, they frankly avowed that they 
preferred idolatry. To lie about their own religion and 
to ridicule another religion that was doing a great and 
good work around them was not enough for these Jews ; 
they must set their poets to work to lampoon the women 
of the believers in obscene verse, and such outrages upon 
common decency, not to say upon the code of Arab honour 
and chivalry, became a favourite occupation among the 
poets of the Jewish clans. 

These were offences against the religion and the persons 
of the Muslims. They also conspired against the state. 
Mohammad was not only the preacher of Islam, he was 
also the king of Medina, and was responsible for the safety 
and peace of the city. As a prophet, he could afford to 
ignore the jibes of the Jews, though they maddened him 
to fury ; but as the chief of the city, the general in a time 
of almost continual warfare, when Medina was kept in 
a state of military defence and under a sort of military 
discipline, he could not overlook treachery. He was 
bound by his duty to his subjects to suppress a party 
that might (and nearly did) lead to the sack of the 
city by investing armies. The measures he took for this 
object have furnished his European biographers with a 
handle for attack. It is, I believe, solely on the ground 
of his treatment of the Jews that Mohammad has been 
called ' a bloodthirsty tyrant : ' it would certainly be diffi- 
cult to support the epithet on other grounds. 

The bloodthirstiness consists in this: some half-dozen 
Jews, who had distinguished themselves by their virulence 
against the Muslims, or by their custom of carrying infor- 
mation to the common enemy of Medina, were executed ; 
two of the three Jewish clans were sent into exile, just as 
they had previously come into exUe, and the third was 



Ixiv INTRODUCTION. 

exterminated — the men killed, and the women and chil- 
dren made slaves. The execution of the half-dozen marked 
Jews is generally called assassination, because a Muslim 
was sent secretly to kill each of the criminals. The reason 
is almost too obvious to need explanation. There were 
no police or law-courts or even courts-martial at Medina ; 
some one of the followers of Mohammad must therefore be 
the executor of the sentence of death, and it was better it 
should be done quietly, as the executing of a man openly 
before his clan would have caused a brawl and more blood- 
shed and retaliation, till the whole city had become mixed 
up in the quarrel. If secret assassination is the word for 
such deeds, secret assassination was a necessary part of the 
internal government of Medina. The men must be killed, 
and best in that way. In saying this I assume that Mo- 
hammad was cognisant of the deed, and that it was not 
merely a case of private vengeance ; but in several instances 
the evidence that traces these executions to Mohammad's 
order is either entirely wanting or is too doubtful to claim 
our credence. 

Of the sentences upon the three whole clans, that of 
exile, passed upon two of them, was clement enough. 
They were a turbulent set, always setting the people of 
Medina by the ears ; and finally a brawl followed by an 
insurrection resulted in the expulsion of one tribe; and 
insubordination, alliance with enemies, and a suspicion of 
conspiracy against the Prophet's life, ended similarly for 
the second. Both tribes had violated the original treaty, 
and had endeavoured in every way to bring Mohammad 
and his religion to ridicule and destruction. The only 
question is whether their punishment M'as not too light. 
Of the third clan a fearful example was made, not by 
Mohammad, but by an arbiter appointed by themselves. 
When the Kureysh and their allies were besieging Medina, 
and had well-nigh stormed the defences, this Jewish tribe 
entered into negotiations with the enemy, which were only 
circumvented by the diplomacy of the Prophet. When 



MOHAMMAD. Ixv 

the besiegers had retired, Mohammad natiirally demanded 
an explanation of the Jews. They resisted in their dogged 
way, and were themselves besieged and compelled to sur- 
render at discretion. Mohammad, however, consented to 
the appointing of a chief of a tribe allied to the Jews as 
the judge who should pronounce sentence upon them. 
The man in question was a fierce soldier, who had been 
wounded in the attack on the Jews, and indeed died from 
his wound the same day. This chief gave sentence that 
the men, in number some six hundred, should be killed, 
and the women and children enslaved ; and the sentence 
was carried out. It was a harsh, bloody sentence, worthy 
of the episcopal generals of the army against the Albi- 
• genses, or of the deeds of the Augustan age of Puritanism ; 
but it must be remembered that the crime of these men 
was high treason against the State, during time of siege ; 
and those who have read how Wellington's march could be 
traced by the bodies of deserters and pillagers hanging 
from the trees, need not be surprized at the summary 
execution of a traitorous clan. 

Whilst Mohammad's supremacy was being established 
and maintained among the mixed population of Mekka, a 
vigorous warfare was being carried on outside with his old 
persecutors, the Kureysh. On the history of this war, 
consisting as it did mainly of small raids and attacks upon 
caravans, I need not dwell ; its leading features were the two 
battles of Bedr and Ohud, in the first of which three hun- 
dred Muslims, though outnumbered at the odds of three to 
one, were completely victorious (a.D. 624, A.H. 2) ; whilst 
at Ohud, being outnumbered in the like proportion and 
deserted by the ' Disaffected ' party, they were almost as 
decisively defeated (a.h. 3). Two years later the Kureysh, 
gathering together their allies, advanced upon Medina 
and besieged it for fifteen days ; but the foresight of 
Mohammad in digging a trench, and the enthusiasm of the 
Muslims in defending it, resisted all assaults, and the com- 
ing of the heavy storms for which the climate of Medina is 



Ixvi INTRODUCTION. 

noted drove the enemy back to Mekka. The next year 
(a.h. 6) a ten years' truce was concluded with the Kureysh, 
in pursuance of which a strange scene took place in the 
following spring. It was agreed that Mohammad and his 
people should perform the Lesser Pilgrimage, and that the 
Kureysh should for that purpose vacate Mekka for three 
days. Accordingly, in March 629, about two thousand 
Muslims, with Mohammad at their head on his famous 
camel El-Kaswa — the same on which he had fled from 
Mekka — trooped down the valley and performed the rites 
which every Muslim to this day observes. 

' It was surely a strange sight which at this time pre- 
sented itself in the vale of Mekka, — a sight unique in the 
history of the world. The ancient city is for three days 
evacuated by all its inhabitants, high and low, every house 
deserted; and, as they retire, the exiled converts, many 
years banished from their birthplace, approach in a great 
body, accompanied by their allies, revisit the empty homes 
of their childhood, and within the short allotted space 
fulfil the rites of pilgrimage. The ousted inhabitants, 
climbing the heights around, take refuge under tents or 
other shelter among the hills and glens ; and, clustering on 
the overhanging peak of Aboo-Kubeys, thence watch the 
movements of the visitors beneath, as with the Prophet at 
their head they make the circuit of theKaabeh and the rapid 
procession between Es-Safa and Marwah ; and anxiously 
scan every figure if perchance they may recognise among 
the worshippers some long-lost friend or relative. It was 
a scene rendered possible only by the throes which gave 
birth to Islam.' ^ 

When the three days were over, Mohammad and his 
party peaceably returned to Medina; and the Mekkans 
re-entered their homes. But this pilgrimage, and the self- 
restraint of the Muslims therein, advanced the cause of 
Islam among its enemies. Converts increased daily, and 

I Sir W. Muir, Life of Mahomet, 402. 



MOUAMMAD. Ixvii 

some leading men of the Kureysh now went over to Mo- 
hammad. The clans around were sending in their depu- 
tations of homage. But the final keystone was set in the 
eighth year of the flight (a.d. 630), when a body of Kureysh 
broke the truce by attacking an ally of the Muslims ; and 
Mohammad forthwith marched upon Mekka with ten 
thousand men, and the city, defence being hopeless, sur- 
rendered. JSTow was the time for the Prophet to show 
his bloodthirsty nature. His old persecutors are at his 
feet. Will he not trample on them, torture them, revenge 
himself after his own cruel manner ? Now the man will 
come forward in his true colours : we may prepare our 
horror, and cry shame beforehand. 

But what is this? Is there no blood in the streets? 
Where are the bodies of the thousands that have been 
butchered ? Facts are hard things ; and it is a fact that 
the day of Mohammad's greatest triiunph over his enemies 
was also the day of his grandest victory over himself. He 
freely forgave the ^Kureysh all the years of sorrow and 
cruel scorn they had inflicted on him : he gave an 
amnesty to the whole population of Mekka. Four 
criminals, whom justice condemned, made up Moham- 
mad's proscription list when he entered as a con- 
queror the city of his bitterest enemies. The army fol- 
lowed his example, and entered quietly and peaceably ; no 
house was robbed, no woman insulted. One thing alone 
suffered destruction. Going to the Kaabeh, Moham- 
mad stood before each of the three hundred and sixty 
idols and pointed to it with his staff, saying, ' Truth is 
come and lying is undone,' and at these words his 
attendants hewed it down ; and all the idols and house- 
hold gods of Mekka and round about were destroyed. 

It was thus that Mohammad entered again his native 
city. Through aU the annals of conquest, there is no 
triumphant entry like unto this one. 

The taking of Mekka was soon followed by the adhesion 
of all Arabia. Every reader knows the story of the spread 



Ixviii INTRODUCTION. 

of Islam. The tribes of every part of the peninsula sent 
embassies to do homage to the Prophet. Arabia was not 
enough : the Prophet had written in his bold uncompro- 
mising way to the great kings of the East, to the Persian 
Khusru, and the Greek Emperor ; and these little knew 
how soon his invitation to the faith would be repeated, 
and how quickly Islam would be knocking at their doors 
with no faltering hand. 

The Prophet's career was near its end. In the tenth 
year of the Plight, twenty years after he had first felt 
the Spirit move him to preach to his people, he resolved 
once more to leave his adopted city and go to Mekka 
to perform a farewell pilgrimage. And when the rites 
were done in the valley of Mina, the Prophet spoke unto 
the multitude — the forty thousand pilgrims — with solemn 
last words.i 

' Ye People ! Hearken to my words ; for I know not 
whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you here 
again. 

' Your Lives and your Property are sacred and inviolable 
amongst one another until the end of time. 

' The Lord hath ordained to every man the share of his 
inheritance : a Testament is not lawful to the prejudice of 
heirs. 

'The child belongeth to the Parent; and the violator 
of Wedlock shall be stoned. 

' Ye people ! Ye have rights demandable of your Wives, 
and they have rights demandable of you. Treat your 
women well. 

' And your Slaves, see that you feed them with such 
food as ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the stuff 
ye wear. And if they commit a fault which ye are not 
wLUing to forgive, then sell them, for they are the servants 
of the Lord, and are not to be tormented. 

' The following is an abridgment : cp. Muir 485, and the Seeret-er-Easocl, 
tr. AVeil, ii. 316, 317. 



MOIiAMMAD. Ixix 

'Ye people! Hearken unto my speech and compre- 
hend it. Know that every Muslim is the brother of every 
other Muslim. All of you are on the same equality : ye 
are one Brotherhood.' 

Then, looking up to heaven, he cried, ' Lord ! I have 
delivered my message and fulfilled my mission.' And all 
the multitude answered, ' Yea, verily hast thou ' ! — ' 
Lord ! I beseech Thee, bear Thou witness to it ' ! and, like 
Moses, he lifted up his hands and blessed the people. 

Three months more and Mohammad was dead. 
A.H. ir.' June, 632. 



It is a hard thing to form a calm estimate of the 
Dreamer of the Desert. There is something so tender and 
womanly, and withal so heroic, about the man, that one 
is in peril of finding the judgment unconsciously blinded 
by the feeling of reverence and well-nigh love that such a 
nature inspires. He who, standing alone, braved for years 
the hatred of his people, is the same who was never the 
first to withdraw his hand from another's clasp, the be- 
loved of children, who never passed a group of little ones 
without a smile from his wonderful eyes and a kind word 
for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet-toned 
voice. The frank friendship, the noble generosity, the 
dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt 
criticism in admiration. 

In telling in brief outline the story of Mohammad's life 
I have endeavoured to avoid controversial points. I have 
tried to convey in the simplest manner the view of that 
life which a study of the authorities must force upon 
every unbiassed mind. Many of the events of Moham- 
mad's life have been distorted and credited with ignoble 
motives by European biographers ; but on the facts they 
mainly agree, and these I have narrated, without encumber- 



Ixx INTRODUCTION. 

ing them with the ingenious adumbrations of their learned 
recorders. But there are some things in the Prophet's life 
which have given rise to charges too weighty to be dis- 
missed without discussion. He has been accused of 
cruelty, sensuality, and insincerity ; he has been called a 
' bloodthirsty tyrant,' a voluptuary, and an impostor. 

The charge of cruelty scarcely deserves consideration. 
I have already spoken of the punishment of the Jews, 
which forms the ground of the accusation. One has but 
to refer to Mohammad's conduct to the prisoners after 
the battle of Bedr, to his patient tolerance towards his- 
enemies at Medina, his gentleness to his people, his love 
of children and the dumb creatures, and above all, his 
bloodless entry into Mekka, and the complete amnesty he 
gave to those who had been his bitter enemies during 
eighteen years of insult and persecution and finally open 
war, to show that cruelty was no part of Mohammad's 
nature. 

To say that Mohammad, or any other Arab, was sensual 
in a higher degree than an ordinary European is simply to 
enounce a well-worn axiom : the passions of the men of 
the sunland are not as those of the chill north. But to 
say that Mohammad was a voluptuary is false. The 
simple austerity of his daily life, to the very last, his hard 
mat for sleeping on, his plain food, his self-imposed menial 
work, point him out as an ascetic rather than a voluptuary 
in most senses of the word. Two things he loved, perfumes 
and women ; the first was harmless enough, and the special 
case of his wives has its special answer. A great deal too 
much has been said about these wives. It is a nlelan- 
choly spectacle to see professedly Christian biographers 
gloating over the stories and fables of Mohammad's do- 
mestic relations like the writers and readers of ' society ' 
journals. It is, of course, a fact that whilst the Prophet 
allowed his followers only four wives he took more than 
a dozen himself ; but be it remembered that, with his un- 
limited power, he need not have restricted himself to a 



MOHAMMAD. Ixxi 

number insignificant compared with the hareems of some 
of his successors, that he never divorced one of his wives, 
that all of them save one were widows, and that one of 
these widows was endowed with so terrific a temper that 
Aboo-Bekr and 'Othman had already politely declined 
the honour of her alliance before the Prophet married her : 
the gratification of living with a viKcn cannot surely be 
excessive. Several of these marriages must have been en- 
tered into from the feeling that those women whose hus- 
bands had fallen in battle for the faith, and who had thus 
been left unprotected, had a claim upon the generosity of 
him who prompted the fight. Other marriages were con- 
tracted from motives of policy, in order to conciliate the 
heads of rival factions. It was not a high motive, but one 
does not look for very romantic ideas about love-matches 
from a man who regarded women as ' crooked ribs,' and 
whose system certainly does its best to make marriage 
from love impossible ; yet, on the other hand, it was not a 
sensual motive. Perhaps the strongest reason — one of 
which it is impossible to over-estimate the force — that 
impelled Mohammad to take wife after wife was his desire 
for male offspring. It was a natural wish that he should 
have a son who should follow in his steps and carry on 
his work ; but the wish was never gratified, Mohammad's 
sons died young. After all, the overwhelming argument 
is his fidelity to his first wife. When he was little more 
than a boy he married Khadeejeh, who was fifteen years 
older than himself, with all the added age that women 
gain so quickly in the East. For five-and-twenty years 
Mohammad remained faithful to his elderly wife, and when 
she was sixty-five, and they might have celebrated their 
' silver wedding,' he was as devoted to her as when first he 
married her. During all those years there was never a 
breath of scandal. Thus far Mohammad's life will bear 
microscopic scrutiny. Then Khadeejeh died ; and though 
he married many women afterwards, some of them rich in 
youth and beauty, he never forgot his old wife, and loved 



Ixxii INTRODUCTION. 

her best to the end : ' when I was poor she enriched me, 
when they called me a liar she alone believed in me, when 
all the world was against me she alone remained true.' 
This loving, tender memory of an old wife laid in the 
grave belongs only to a noble nature ; it is not to be 
looked for in a voluptuary.'- 

When, however, aU has been said, when it has been 
shown that Mohammad was not the rapacious voluptuary 
some have taken him for, and that his violation of his own 
marriage-law may be due to motives reasonable and just 
from his point of view rather than to common sensuality, 
there remains the fact that some of the soorahs of the 
Kur-an bear unmistakable marks of self-accommodation 
and personal convenience ; that Mohammad justified his 
domestic excesses by words which he gave as from God. 
And hence the third and gravest charge, the charge of 
imposture. We must clearly understand what is meant 
by this accusation. It is meant that the Prophet con- 
sciously fabricated speeches, and palmed them off upon the 
people as the very word of God. The question, it will at 



^ An attempt has been made to ex- his old wife nnaccounted for. If her 

plain away Mohammad's fidelity to money alone had curbed him for 

Khadeejeh, by adducing the motive twenty-five years, one would expect 

of pecuniary prudence. Mohammad, him at her death to throw off the 

they say, was a poor man, Khadeejeh cloak, thank Heaven for the deliver- 

rich and powerfully connected; any ance, and enter at once upon the rake's 

affaire de cceur on the husband's part progress. He does none of those 

would have been followed by a divorce things. The story of Zeyneb, the 

and the simultaneous loss of property divorced wife of Zeyd, is a favourite 

and position. It is hardly necessary weapon with Mohammad's accusers, 

to point out that the fear of poverty It is not one to enter upon here ; but 

■ — a matter of little consequence in I may say that the lady's own share 

Arabia and at that time — would not in the transaction has never been suf- 

restrain a really sensual man for five- ficiently considered. In all probabi- 

and-twenty years ; especially when it lity Zeyd, the freed slave, was glad 

is by no means certain that Khadee- enough to get rid of his too weU-born 

jeh, who loved him with all her heart wife, and certainly he bore no rancour 

in a motherly sort of way, would have against Mohammad. The real point 

procured a divorce for any cause so- of the story is the question of forged 

ever. And this explanation leaves revelations, which is discussed be- 

Mohammad's loving remembrance of low. 



MOHAMMAD. Ixxiii 

once be perceived, has nothing whatever to do with the 
truth or untruth of the revelations. Many an earnest 
enthusiast has uttered prophecies and exhortations which 
he firmly believed to be the promptings of the Spirit, and 
no man can charge such an one with imposture. He tho- 
roughly believes what he says, and the fault is in the 
judgment, not the conscience. The question is aLgarly 
narrowed to this : Did Mohammad believe he was speaking 
the words of God equally when he declared that permis- 
sion was given him to take unto him more wives, as when 
he proclaimed ' There is no god but God ' ? It is a ques- 
tion that concerns the conscience of man ; and each must 
answer it for himself. How far a man may be deluded 
into believing everything he says is inspired it is impos- 
sible to define. There are men to-day who would seem to 
claim infallibility; and in Mohammad's time it was so 
much easier to believe in one's self. Now, one never wants 
a friend to remind him of his weakness ; then, there were 
hundreds who would fain have made the man think him- 
self God. It is wonderful, with his temptations, how 
great a humility was ever his, how little he assumed 
of all the god-like attributes men forced upon him. 
His whole life is one long argument for his loyalty to 
truth. He had but one answer for his worshippers, 
' I am no more than a man, I am only human.' ' Do 
none enter Paradise save by the mercy of God ? ' asked 
'Aisheh. ' None, none, none,' he answered. ' Not even 
thou by thy own merits ? ' ' Neither shaU I enter 
Paradise unless God cover me with His mercy.' He 
was a man like unto his brethren in all things save one, 
and that one difi"erence served only to increase his 
humbleness, and render him the more sensitive to his 
shortcomings. He was sublimely confident of this single 
attribute, that he was the messenger of the Lord of the 
Daybreak, and that the words he spake came verily from 
Him. He was fuUy persuaded — and no man dare dispute 
his right to the belief — that God had sent him to do a 



Ixxiv INTRODUCTION. 

great work among his people in Arabia. Nervous to the 
verge of madness, subject to hysteria, given to wild 
dreamings in solitary places, his was a temperament that 
easily leads itself to religious enthusiasm. He felt a 
subtle influence within him which he believed to be the 
movings of the Spirit : he thought he heard a voice ; it 
became real and audible to him, awed and terrified him, 
so that he fell into frantic fits. Then he would arise and 
utter some noble saying ; and what wonder if he thought 
it came straight from highest heaven ? It was not with- 
out a sore struggle that he convinced himself of his own 
inspiration ; but once admitted, the conviction grew with 
his years and his widening infiuence for good, and nothing 
then could shake his belief that he was the literal mouth- 
piece of the AU-Merciful. When a man has come to this 
point, he cannot be expected to discriminate between this 
saying and that. As the instrument of God he has lost 
his individuality ; he believes God is ever speaking through 
his lips ; he dare not question the inspiration of the 
speech lest he should seem to doubt the Giver. 

Yet there must surely be a limit to this delusion. There 
are some passages in the Kur-an v/hich it is difficult to 
think Mohammad truly believed to be the voice of the 
Lord of the Worlds. Mohammad's was a sensitive con- 
science in the early years of his teaching, and it is hard 
to think that it could have been so obscured in later 
times that he could really believe in the inspired source 
of some of his revelations. He may have thought the 
commands they conveyed necessary, but he could hardly 
have deemed them divine. . In some cases he could scarcely 
fail to be aware that the object of the ' revelation ' was his 
own comfort or pleasure or reputation, and not the major 
Dei gloria, nor the good of the people. 

The truth would seem to be that in the latter part of 
his life Mohammad was forced to enlarge the limits of his 
revelations as the sphere of his influence increased. From 
a private citizen of Mekka he had become the Emeer, the 



MOHAMMAD. Ixxv 

chief of the Arabs, the ruler of a factious, jealous, turbulent 
people ; aud the change must have had its effect upon his 
character. The man who from addressino; a few devout 
followers in a tent in the desert finds himself the head of 
a nation of many tribes, king of a country twice the 
size of France, will find mauy things difiieult that before 
seemed easy. As a statesman Mohammad was as great as 
he was as a preacher of righteousness ; but as his field of 
work enlarged, his mind had to accommodate itself to the 
needs of commoner minds. He learnt to see the expedient 
where before he knew only the right. His revelations 
now deal with the things of earth, when before they looked 
only towards the tilings of heaven ; and petty social rules, 
' geueval orders,' selfish permissions, are promulgated with 
the same authority and as from the same divine source as 
the command to worsliip one God alone. He governed 
the nation as a prophet and not as a Idng, and as a pro- 
phet his ordinances must be endorsed with the divine 
afflatus. He found he must regulate the meanest details 
of the people's life, and he believed he could only do this 
by using God's name for his decrees. He doubtless argued 
himself into the belief that even these petty, and to us 
sometimes immoral, regulations, being for the good of the 
people, as he conceived the good, were really God's ordi- 
nances ; but even thus he had lowered the standard of his 
teaching, and alloyed with base metal the pure gold of liis 
early ideal. It was a temptation that few men have 
withstood, but it was, nevertheless, a faUiug-ofi" fi'om the 
Mohammad we loved at Mekka, the simple truth-loving 
bearer of good tidings to the Arabs. 

Yet beMnd this engrafted character, formed by the 
difliculties of his position, by the iuN-incible jealousy and 
treachery of the tribes he governed, the old nature still 
lived, and ever and anon broke forth in fervid words of 
faith and hope in the cause and the promises that had 
been the light and support of Iris early years of trial. 
In the late chapters of the Kuivin, among complicated 



Ixxvi INTRODUCTION. 

directions for the Muslim's guidance in all the circum- 
stances of life, we suddenly hear an echo of the old fiery 
eloquence and the expression of \h% strong faith which 
never deserted him. 

Surely the character of Mohammad has been misjudged. 
He was not the ambitious schemer some would have him, 
still less the hypocrite and sham prophet others have ima- 
gined. He was an enthusiast in that noblest sense when 
enthusiasm becomes the salt of the earth, the one thing 
that keeps meu from rotting whilst they live. Enthu- 
siasm is- often used despitefully, because it is joined 
to an unworthy cause, or falls upon barren ground and 
bears no fruit. So was it not with Mohammad. He 
was an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thins 
needed to set the world aflame, and his enthusiasm was 
noble for a noble cause. He was one of those happy few 
who have attained the supreme joy of making one great 
truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the 
One God, and never to his life's end did he forget who he 
was, or the message which was the marrow of his being. 
He brought his tidings to his people with a grand dignity, 
sprung from the consciousness of his high office, together 
with a most sweet humility, whose roots lay in the know- 
ledge of his own weakness. Well did Carlyle choose him 
for his prophet-hero ! There have been purer lives and 
higher aspirations than Mohammad's; but no man was 
ever more thoroughly filled with the sense of his mission 
or carried out that mission more heroically. 



( Ixxvii ) 



III.— ISLVM. 

' Tour tiimlng your f ices in prayer towards ths east and tbe west is not piety ; 
but the pious is he who helieveth in Gktd and the Last Day, and in the Augels, and 
the Script uro. and who giveth niouoy, notwithstanding his love thereof, to relations 
and orphan?, and to the needy and the son of the road, and to the askers, ;uid for 
the freeing of slivcs. and who performeth prayer and giveth the appointed alms ; and 
those who perform their covenant when they covenantT and the patient in adversity 
and affliction and in the time of \'iolence. These are they who have been true ; and 
these are they who fear God.' — jfur-dn, ii 172, 

When it Avas noised abroad that the Prophet -was dead, 
'Omar, the fierA'-hearted, the Simon Peter of Islam, rushed 
among the people, and fiercely told them they lied, it could 
not be true, Mohammad was not dead. And Aboo-Bekr 
came and siiid, ' Ye people ! he that hath worshipped 
Mohammad, let him know that Mohammad is dead; but 
he that hath worshipped God, — that the Lord liveth, and 
doth not die.' 

Many have sought to answer the questions — Why was 
the triumph of Islam so speedy and so complete ? Why 
have so manj- millions embraced the religion of Moham- 
mad, and scarcely a hundred ever recanted ? Why do a 
thousand Christians become Muslims to one Muslim who 
adopts Christianity ? "Why do a hundred and fifty mil- 
lions of human beings stiU. cling to the faith of Islam ? 
Some have attempted to explain the first overwhelming 
success of the ilohammadan religion by the argument of 
the sword. Tliey forget Cnrlyle's laconic reply. ' Pii'st get 
voirr sword.' You must wiu men's hearts before you can 
induce them to peril their lives for you, and the first con- 
querors of Islam must have been made Muslims before 
they were made ' fighters on the path of God.' Others 
allege the low morality of the religion and the sensual 



Ixxviii INTRODUCTION. 

paradise it promises as a sufficient cause for the zeal of its 
followers ; but even were these admitted to the full, to say- 
that such reasons could win the hearts of millions of men 
who have the same hopes and longings after the right and 
the noble as we, is to libel mankind. No religion has ever 
gained a lasting hold upon the souls of men by the force 
of its sensual permissions and fleshly promises. It is 
urged, again, that Islam met no fair foe, that the worn-out 
forms of Christianity and Judaism it encountered were 
no test of its power as a quickening faith, and that it pre- 
vailed simply because there was nothing to prevent it; 
and this was undoubtedly a help to the progress of the 
new creed, but it could not have been the cause of its 
victory. 

In all these reasons the religion itself is left out of the 
question. Decidedly Islam itself was the main cause of 
its triumph. By some strange intuition Mohammad suc- 
ceeded in finding the one form of Monotheism that has 
ever commended itself to any wide section of the Eastern 
world. It was only a remnant of #he Jews that learned 
to worship the one God of the prophets after the hard 
lessons of the Captivity. Christianity has never gained a 
hold upon the East. Islam not only was at once accepted 
(partly in earnest, partly in name, but accepted) by Arabia, 
Syria, Persia, Egypt, Northern Africa, and Southern Spain 
at its first outburst, but, with the exception of Spain, it 
has never lost its vantage-ground ; it has seen no country 
that has once embraced its doctrine turn to another faith ; 
it has added great multitudes in India and China and 
Turkestan to its subjects ; and in quite recent times it has 
been spreading in wide and swiftly — following waves over 
Africa, and has left but a small part of that vast continent 
unconverted to its creed. Admitting the mixed causes 
that contributed to the rapidity of the first torrent of 
Mohammadan conquest, they do not account for the 
duration of Islam. There must be something in the reli- 
gion itself to explain its persistence and increase, and to 



ISLAM. Ixxix 

account for its present hold over so large a proportion of 
the dwellers on the earth. 

Men trained in European ideas of religion have always 
found a difficulty in understanding the fascination which 
the Muslim faith has for so many minds in the East. 
' There is no god but God, and Mohammad is His Prophet.'' 
There is nothing in this, they say, to move the heart. Yet 
this creed has stirred an enthusiasm that has never been! 
surpassed. Islam has had its martyrs, its self-tormentors, 
its recluses, who have renounced all that life offered and 
have accepted death with a smile for the sake of the faith 
that was in them. It is idle to say the eternity of happi- 
ness will explain this. The truest martyrs of Islam, as 
well as of Christianity," did not die to gain paradise. And 
if they did, the belief in the promises of the creed must 
follow the hearty belief in the creed. Islam must have 
possessed a power of seizing men's belief before it coidd 
have inspired them with such a love of its paradise. 

Mo^iammad's conception of God has, I think, been mis- 
understood, and its effect upon the people consequently 
under-estimated. The God of Islam is commonly repre- 
sented as a pitiless tyrant, who plays with humanity as 
on a chessboard, and works out his game without regard 
to the sacrifice of the pieces ; and there is a certain truth 
in the figure. There is more in Islam of the potter who 
shapes the clay than of the father pitying his children. 
Mohammad conceived of God as the Semitic mind has 
always preferred to think of Him : his God is the All- 
Mighty, the AU- Knowing, the All -Just. Irresistible 
Power is the first attribute he thinks of : the Lord of the 
Worlds, the Author of the Heavens and the Earth, who 
hath created Life and Death, in whose hand is Dominion 
who maketh the Dawn to appear and causeth the Night 
to cover the Day, the Great, AU-Powerful Lord of the 
glorious Throne ; the Thunder proclaimeth His perfection, 
the whole earth is His handful; and the Heavens shall be 
folded together in His right hand. And with the Power 



Ixxx INTRODUCTION. 

He conceives the Knowledge that directs it to right ends. 
God is the Wise, the Just, the True, the Swift in reckon- 
ing, who knoweth every ant's weight of good and of ill 
that each man hath done, and who suffereth not the reward 
of the faithful to perish. 

' Qod ! There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Sub- 
sisting. Slumber aeizeth Him not nor sleep. To Him belongeth 
■whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who 
is he that shall intercede vf ith Him, save by His permis.sion % He 
knoweth the things that have gone before and the things that follow 
after, and men shall not compass aught of His knowledge, save what 
He willeth. His Throne oomprehendeth the Heavens and the Earth, 
and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And He is the High, the 
Great.' — Kur-&n, ii. 256. 

But with this Power there is also the gentleness that 
belongs only to great strength. God is the Guardian over 
His servants, the Shelterer of the orphan, the Guider of the 
erring, the Deliverer from every affliction ; in His hand is 
Good, and He is the Generous Lord, the Gracious, the 
Hearer, the Near-at-Hand. Every soorah of the IJur-an 
begins with the words, ' In the Name of God, the Com- 
passionate, the Merciful,' and Mohammed was never tired 
of telling the people how God was Very-Forgiving, that 
His love for man was more tender than the mother-bird 
for her young. 

It is too often forgotten how much there is in the Kur-an 
of the loving-kindness of God, but it must be allowed 
that these are not the main thoughts in Mohammad's 
teaching. It is the doctrine of the Might of God that 
most held his imagination, and that has impressed itself 
most strongly upon Muslims of all ages. The fear rather 
than the love of God is 11 lo spur of Islam. There can be 
no question which is the higher incentive to good; but 
it is nearly certain that the love of God is an idea abso- 
lutely foreign to most of the races that have accepted 
Islam, and to preach such a doctrine would have been to 
mistake the leaning of the Semitic mind. 



ISLAM. Ixxxi 

The leading doctrine of Mohammad, then, is the belief 
in One All-Powerful God. Islam is the self-surrender of 
every man to the will of God. Its danger lies in the 
stress laid on the power of God, which has brought about 
the stifling effects of fatalism. Mohammad taught the 
foreknowledge of God, but he did not lay down precisely 
the doctrine of Predestination. He found it, as all have 
found it, a stumbling-block in the way of man's progress. 
It perplexed him, and he spoke of it, but often contra- 
dicted himself ; and he would become angry if the subject 
were mooted in his presence : ' Sit not with a disputer 
about fate,' he said, ' nor begin a conversation with him.' 
Mohammad vaguely recognised that little margin of Free 
Will which makes life not wholly mechanical. 

This doctrine of one Supreme God, to whose will it is 
the duty of every man to sui-render himself, is the kernel 
of Islam, the truth for which Mohammad lived and suf- 
fered and triumphed. But it was no new teaching, as he 
himself was constantly saying. His was only the last 
of revelations. Many prophets — Abraham, Moses, and 
Christ — had taught the same faith before; but people 
had hearkened little to their words. So Mohammad was 
sent, not different from them, only a messenger, yet the 
last and greatest of them, the ' seal of prophecy,' the ' most 
excellent of the creation of God.' This is the second 
dogma of Islam : Mohammad_is_the3postle of God. It ' 
is well worthy of notice that it is not said, 'Mohammad is 
the only apostle of God.' Islam is more tolerant in this 
matter than other religions. Its prophet is not the sole 
commissioner of the Most High, nor is his teaching 
the only true teaching the world has ever received. 
Many other messengers had been sent by God to guide 
men to the right, and these taught the same reli- 
gion that was in the mouth of the preacher of Islam. 
Hence Muslims reverence Moses and Christ only next 
to Mohammad. AU they claim for their founder is that 

/ 



Ixxxii INTRODUCTION. 

he was the last and best of the messengers of the one 
, God.* 

After the belief in God and his prophets and scriptures, 
the Muslim must believe in angels, good and evil genii, 
in the resurrection and the judgment, and in future 
rewards and punishments. What' the teaching of the 
Kur-an is upon these points may be seen in the Pirst Part 
of the ' Selections.' They form a very common weapon of 
attack on the ground of their superstition, their anthro- 
pomorphism, and their sensuality. Yet these minor 
beliefs have their place in all religions, and they are con- 
ceived in scarcely more absurdly realistic a manner in 
Islam than in any other creed. Every religion seems to 
need an improbable, almost a ludicrous, side, in order to 
provide material for the faith of the masses. Mohammad 
himself was what is called a superstitious man, and the 
improbable side thus found its way easily into his creed. 
With all the fancies floating in Arabia in his time, it 
would have been strange if he had introduced nothing of 
the superstitious into Islam. The Jinn, the Afreets, and 
the other beings of the air and water, have not done 
much harm to the Mohammadan mind; and they have 
given so many a delightful fable to the West, that we 
must feel a certain grateful respect for them. The realistic 
pictures of paradise and hell have exercised a more serious 
influence. The minute details of these infernal and celes- 
tial pictures must move alternately the disgust and the 
contemptuous amusement of a Western reader; yet these 
same things were very real facts to Mohammad, and have 
been of the utmost importance to generation after genera- 
tion of Muslims. In the present day there are cultured 

* ' The Prophet said : Whosoever of God, the -word which was sent to 

shall bear witness that there is one Mary, and Spirit from God; and 

God ; and that Mohammad is His ser- [shall bear witness] that there is truth 

vant and messenger ; and that Jesus in Heaven and Hell, will enter into 

Christ is His servant and messenger, paradise, whatever sins he may be 

and that he is the son of the hand- chargeable with.' — Miihkdt-d-MasA- 

maid of God, and that he is the Word ieeh, i. ii. 



ISLAm. Ixxxiii 

men who receive these descriptions in the same allegorical 
sense as some Christians accept the Eevelation of S. John — 
which, indeed, in some respects offers a close parallel to 
the pictorial parts of the K!ur-an ; but the vast majority of 
believers (like many Christians in the parallel case) take 
the descriptions literally, and there can be no doubt that 
the belief founded on such pictures, accepted literally, must 
work an ill effect on the professors of the faith of which 
these doctrines form a minor, but a too prominent, part; 
and it is the aim of rational Muslims to sweep away such 
cobwebs from their sky. 

Islam lies more in doing than in believing. That ' faith 
without works is dead' is a doctrine which every day's 
routine must bring home to the mind of the devout Mus- 
lim. The practical duties of the Mohammadan religion, 
beyond the actual profession of faith, are the performance 
of prayer, the giving of alms, the keeping of the fasts, 
and the accomplishing the pilgrimage. Mr. Lane has so 
minutely described the regular prayers used over all the 
Mohammadan East, that it is only necessary here to refer 
to his account of them in the ' Modern Egyptians.' There 
it will be seen that they form no light part of the reli- 
gious duties of the Muslim, especially since they involve 
careful preparatory ablutions ; for Mohammad impressed 
upon his followers the salutary doctrine that cleaidiness is 
an essential part of godliness, and the scrupulous cleanli- 
ness of the Mohammadan, which contrasts so favourably 
with the unsavoury state of Easterns of other creeds, is an 
excellent feature in the practical influence of Islam. The 
charge which missionaries and the like are fond of bring- 
ing against the Muslim prayers, that they are merely 
lifeless forms and vain repetitions, is an exaggeration. 
There is a vast deal of repetition in the Mohammadan 
ritual, just as the paternoster is repeated again and again 
in the principal Christian liturgies ; but iteration does not 
necessarily kill devotion. There is plenty of real fervour 
in the prayers of the Mosque, and they are joined-in by 



Ixxxi V INTR OD UCTION. 

the woTsliippers with an earnest attention which shames 
the listless sleepy bearing of most congregations in Eng- 
land. It is true the greater part of the prayers are laid 
down in prescribed forms; but there is an interval set 
apart for private supplication, and the original congrega- 
tions in the mosques availed themselves of this permission 
more generally than is now the case, when the old fervour 
has become comparatively cool; and Mohammad frequently 
enjoins private prayer at home, and specially praises him 
who ' passeth his night worshipping God.' 

Almsgiving was originally compulsory, and the tax was 
collected by the officers of the Khalif ; but now the Muslim 
is merely expected to give voluntarily about a fortieth 
part of his income in charity each year. The great fast of 
Eamadan is too well known to need more than a passing 
mention here ; but it is not so well known that Moham- 
mad, ascetic as he was himself in this as in many other 
matters, whilst he ordained the month of fasting for the 
chastening of his able-bodied followers, was a determined 
enemy to useless mortification of the flesh, and boldly 
aiSrmed that God took no pleasure in a man's wantonly 
injuring himself ; and so if one that was weakly and sick 
could not keep the fast without bodily detriment he was 
to omit it. And the same wise leniency was shown by 
the Arab prophet in respect of prayer, — which may be 
curtailed or omitted in certain cases, — and with regard to 
the pilgrimage, which no one was to perform to his hurt. 
This same pilgrimage is often urged as a sign of Moham- 
mad's tendency to superstition and even idolatry. It is 
asked how the destroyer of idols could have reconciled his 
conscience to the circuits of the Kaabeh and the vene- 
ration of the black stone covered with adoring kisses. 
The rites of the pilgrimage cannot certainly be defended 
against the charge of superstition ; but it is easy to see 
why Mohammad enjoined them. They were hallowed to 
him by the memories of his ancestors, who had been the 
guardians of the sacred temple, and by the traditional 



ISLAM. Ixxxv 

reverence of all his people ; and besides this tie of associa- 
tion, which in itself was enough to make it impossible for 
him to do away with the rites, Mohammad perceived 
that the worship in the Kaabeh would prove of real 
value to his religion. He swept away the more idolatrous 
and immoral part of the ceremonies, but he retained the 
pilgrimage to Mekka and the old veneration of the temple 
for reasons of which it is impossible to dispute the wisdom. 
He well knew the consolidating effect of forming a centre 
to which his followers should gather ; and hence he re- 
asserted the sanctity of the black stone that ' came down 
from Heaven ; ' he ordained that everywhere throughout 
the world the Muslim should pray looking towards the 
Kaabeh, and he enjoined him to make the pilgrimage 
thither. Mekka is to the Muslim what Jerusalem is to 
the Jew. It bears with it all the influence of centuries 
of associations. It carries the Muslim back to the cradle 
of his faith, the childhood of his prophet ; it reminds him 
of the strufTgle between the old faith and the new, of the 

DO ' 

overthrow of the idols, and the establishment of the 
worship of the One God. And, most of all, it bids him 
remember that all his brother Muslims are worshipping 
towards the same sacred spot; that he is one of a great 
company of believers, united by one faith, filled with the 
same hopes, reverencing the same things, worshipping the 
same God. Mohammad showed his knowledge of the 
religious emotions in man when he preserved the sanctity 
of the temple of Islam. 

It would take too much space to look closely into the 
lesser duties of Islam, many of which suggest exceedingly 
wholesome lessons to Western civilisation. But we must 
not pass over one of these minor duties, for it reflects 
the highest credit upon the founder and the professors 
of Mohammadanism — I mean the humane^ treatment of 
animals. 

' There is no religion which has taken a higher view 
in its authoritative documents of animal life, and none 



Ixxxvi INTRODUCTION. 

wherein the precept has been so much honoured by its 
practical observance. ' There is no beast on earth,' says 
the IS^ur-an, ' nor bird which flieth with its wings, but the 
same is a people like unto you — unto the Lord shall they 
return ; ' and it is the current belief that animals will share 
with men the general resurrection, and be judged accord- 
ing to their works. At the slaughter of an animal, the 
Prophet ordered that the name of God should always be 
named ; but the words, ' the Compassionate, the Merciful,' 
were to be omitted ; for, on the one hand, such an expres- 
sion seemed a mockery to the sufferer, and, on the other, 
he could not bring himself to believe that the destruction 
of any life, however necessary, could be altogether pleasing 
to the All-Merciful. ' In the name of God,' says a pious 
Musalman before he strikes the fatal blow ; ' God is most 
great; God give thee patience to endure the aftliction 
which He hath allotted thee!' In the East there has 
been no moralist like Bentham to insist in noble words on 
the extension of the sphere of moraliL/ to all sentient 
beings, and to be ridiculed for it by people who call them- 
selves religious ; there has been no naturalist like Darwin, 
to demonstrate by his marvellous powers of observation 
how large a part of the mental and moral faculties which 
we usually claim for ourselves alone we share with other 
beings ; there has been no Oriental ' Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Animals.' But one reason of this 
is not far to seek. What the legislation of the last few 
years has at length attempted to do, and, from the mere 
fact that it is legislation, must do ineffectually, has been 
long effected in the East by the_ moral and religious senti- 
ment which, like almost everything that is good in that part 
of the world, can be traced back, in part at least, to the great 
Prophet of Arabia. Iti the East, so far as it has not been har- 
dened by the West, there is a real sympathy between man 
and the domestic animals ; they understand one another ; 
and the cruelties which the most humane of our country- 
men unconsciously effect in the habitual use, for instance, 



ISLAM. Ixxxvii 

of the muzzle or the bearing-rein on the most docile, the 
most patient, the most faithful, and the most intelligent 
of their companions, are impossible in the East. An Arab 
canmt ill-treat his horse ; and Mr. Lane bears emphatic 
testimony to the fact that in his long residence in Egypt 
Le never saw an ass or a dog (though the latter is there 
boked upon as an unclean ankaal) treated with cruelty, 
except in those cities which were overrun by Europeans.' * 
T]\ere are some very beautiful traditions of the Prophet, 
showing the tenderness with which he always treated ani- 
mals and which he ever enjoined on his people. A man 
once came to him with a carpet and said, ' Prophet, I 
passed through a wood and heard the voices of the young of 
birds, and I took and put them into my carpet, and their 
mother came fluttering round my head.' And the Prophet 
said, ' Put them down ; ' and when he had put them down 
the mother joined the young. And the Prophet said, ' Do 
you wonder at the affection of the mother towards her 
young ? I swear by Him who has sent me. Verily God is 
more loving to his -servants than the mother to these 
young birds. Eeturn them to the place from which ye 
took them, and let their mother be with them.' 'Fear 
God with regard to animals,' said Mohammad ; ' ride them 
when they are fit to be ridden, and get off when they are 
tired. Verily there are rewards for our doing good to 
dumb animals, and giving them water to drink.' 

Such, in brief outline, is the religion of jMohammad. 
It is a form of pure theism, simpler and more austere 
than the theism of most forms of modern Christianity, 
lofty in its conception of the relation of man to God, and 
noble in its doctrine of the duty of man to man, and of 
man to the lower creation. There is little in it of super- 
stition, less of complexity of dogmas ; it is an exacting 
religion, without the repulsiveness of asceticism ; severe, 

* K. Bcuworth Smith: ilvhammcd, and Jluham/iicdaiiism, ad ed., 255-257. 



Ixxxviii INTRODUCTION. 

but not merciless. On the other hand, it is over-rigid 
and formal ; it leaves too little to the believer and too 
much to his ritual; it places a prophet and a book be- 
tween man and God, and practically discourages the desir^ 
for a direct relation between the Deity and his servantj; 
it draws the picture of that God in too harsh outline^, 
and leaves out too much of the tenderness and loving- 
kindness of the God of Christ's teaching, and hence it ha^ 
been the source of more intolerance and fanatical hatrei 
than most creeds. 

This religion is Islam as understood and taught by its 
Prophet, so far as we can gather it from the Kur-an, aided 
by those traditions which seem to have the stamp of 
authenticity. It need hardly be said that it is not iden- 
tical with the Islam with which the philosophers of Bagh- 
dad amused themselves, nor with the fantastic creed 
which the Fatimee Khalifs of Egypt represented, and 
brought in the person of El-Hakim to its limit of extrava- 
gance ; nor is it the Islam with which as much as with 
their ferocity the Karmatees aroused the fear and ab- 
horrence of all good Muslims. Neither the Soofism of 
Persia nor the dervish sensation-religion of Turkey con- 
form to this ancient Islam, to which perhaps a modifica- 
tion of the Wahhabee puritanism would be the nearest 
approach. The original faith of Mohammad has not gained 
by its development in foreign lands and alien minds, and 
perhaps the best we can hope for modern Islam is that 
it may try the experiment of retrogression, or rather seek 
to regain the simplicity of the old form without losing the 
advantages (if there be any) which it has acquired from 
contact with Western civilisation. 

Islam is unfortunately a social system as well as a 
religion ; and herein lies the great difficulty of fairly esti- 
mating its good and its bad influence on the world. It is 
but in the nature of things that the teacher who lays down 
the law of the relation of man to God should also endea- 



ISLAM. Ixxxix 

vour to appoint tlie proper relation between man and his 
neighbour. Christianity was undoubtedly a social even 
more than a religious reform, but the social regulations 
were too indefinite, or at all events too impracticable, for 
any wide acceptance among the professors of the re- 
ligion. Islam was less fortunate. Mohammad not only 
promulgated a religion ; he laid down a complete social 
system, containing minute regulations for a man's conduct 
in all circumstances of life, with due rewards or penalties 
according to his fulfilment of these rules. As a religion 
Islam is great: it has taught men to worship one God 
with a pure worship who formerly worshipped many gods 
impurely. As a social system Islam is a complete failure: 
it has misunderstood the relations of the sexes, upon 
which the whole character of a nation's life hangs, and, 
by degrading women, has degraded each successive genera- 
tion of their children down an increasing scale of infamy 
and corruption, until it seems almost impossible to reach 
a lower level of vice. 

The fatal spot in Islam is the degradation of women . 
The true test of a nation's place in the ranks of civilisa- 
tion is the position of its women. When they are held 
in reverence, when it is considered the most infamous of 
crimes to subject a woman to dishonour, and the highest 
distinction to protect her from wrong ; when the family 
life is real and strong, of which the mother- wife is the 
heart; when each man's pulse beats loyal to woman- 
hood, then is a nation great. When women are treated 
as playthings, toys, drudges, worth anything only if 
they have beauty to be enjoyed or strength to labour; 
when sex is considered the chief thing in a woman, and 
heart and mind are forgotten ; when a man buys women 
for his pleasure and dismisses them when his appetite is 
glutted, then is a nation despicable. 

And so is it in the East. Yet it would be hard to lay 
the blame altogether on Mohammad. The real roots of the 
degradation of women lie much deeper. When Islam was 



xc INTRODUCTION. 

instituted, polygamy was almost necessitated by tlie num- 
ber of women and their need of support ; and the facility 
of divorce was quite necessitated by the separation of the 
sexes, and the consequence that a man could not know or 
even see the woman he was about to marry before the mar- 
riage ceremony was accomplished. It is not Mohammad 
whom we must blame for these great evils, polygamy and 
divorce; it is the state of society which demanded the 
separation of the sexes, and in which it was not safe to 
allow men and women freely to associate ; in other words, 
it was the sensual constitution of the Arab that lay at the 
root of the matter. Mohammad might have done better. 
He might boldly have swept away the traditions of Arab 
society, unveiled the women, intermingled the sexes, and 
punished by the most severe measures any license which 
such association might at first encourage. With his bound- 
less influence, it is possible that he might have done this, 
and, the new system once fairly settled, and the people 
accustomed to it, the good effects of the change would have 
begun to show themselves. But such an idea could never 
have occurred to him. "We must always remember that 
we are dealing with a social system of the seventh century, 
not of the nineteenth. Mohammad's ideas about women 
were like those of the rest of his contemporaries. He 
looked upon them as charming snares to the believer, 
ornamental articles of furniture difficult to keep in order, 
pretty playthings ; but that a woman should be the counsel- 
lor and companion of a man does not seem to have occurred 
to him. It is to be wondered that the feeling of respect he 
always entertained for his first wife, Khadeejeh, (which, 
however, is partly accounted for by the fact that she was 
old enough to have been his mother,) found no counterpart 
in his general opinion of womankind : ' Woman was made 
from a crooked rilj, and if you try to bend it straight, it 
wiU. break ; therefore treat your wives kindly. ' Mohammad 
was not the man to make a social reform affecting women, 
nor was Arabia the country in which such a change should 



ISLAM. xci 

be made, nor Arab ladies perhaps the best subjects for the 
experiment. Still he did something towards bettering the 
condition of women : he limited the number of wives to 
four ; laid his hand with the utmost severity on the in- 
cestuous marriages that were then rife in Arabia; com- 
pelled husbands to support their divorced wives during 
their fotir months of probation ; made irrevocable divorce 
less common by adding the rough, but deterring, con- 
dition that a woman triply divorced could not return 
to her husband without first being married to some one 
else — a condition exceedingly disagreeable to the first hus- 
band; and required four witnesses to prove a charge of 
adultery against a wife — a merciful provision, difiicultJ;o 
be fulfilled. The evil permitted by Mohammad in leaving 
the number of wives four instead of insisting on monogamy 
was not great. Without considering the sacrifice of family 
peace which the possession of a large harem entails, the 
expense of keeping several wives, each of whom must have 
a separate suite of apartments or a separate house, is so 
great that not more than one in twenty can afford it. It 
is not so much in the matter of wives as in that of con- 
cubines that llohammad made an irretrievable mistake. 
The condition of the female slave in the East is indeed 
deplorable. She is at the entire mercy of her master, who 
can do what he pleases with her and her companions ; for 
the Muslim is not restricted in the number of his concu- 
bines, as he is in that of his wives. The female white slave 
is kept solely for the master's sensual gratification, and is 
sold when he is tired of her, and so she passes from master 
to master, a very wreck of womanhood. Her condition is 
a little unproved if she bear a son to her tyrant ; but even 
then he is at liberty to refuse to acknowledge the child as 
his own, though it must be owned he seldom does this. 
Kind as the Prophet was himself towards bondswomen, 
one cannot forget the unutterable brutalities which he 
suffered his followers to inflict upon conquered nations in 
the taking of slaves. The Muslim soldier was allowed to 



xcii INTRODUCTION. 

do as he pleased with any 'infidel' woman he might 
meet with on his victorious march. When one thinks of 
the thousands of women, mothers and daughters, who 
must have suffered untold shame and dishonour by this 
license, he cannot find words to express his horror. And 
this cruel indulgence has left its mark on the Muslim 
character, nay, on the whole character of Eastern life. 
Now, as at the first, young Christian girls are dragged 
away from their homes and given over to the unhallowed 
lusts of a Turkish voluptuary ; and not only to Turks, but 
to Englishmen; for the contagion has spread, and English- 
men, even those who by their sacred order should know 
better, instead of uttering their protest, as men of honour 
and Christians, against the degradation, have followed the 
example of the Turk, and helped in the ruin of. women. 
Concubinage is the black stain in Islam. With Moham- 
mad's views of women, we could hardly expect him to do 
better; but, on the other hand, he could scarcely have 
done worse. There are, however, one or two alleviating 
circumstances. One is the fact that the canker has not 
eaten into the whole of Eastern society ; it is chiefly 
among the rich that the evil effects of the system are felt. 
And another fact which shows that the Mohammadan 
system, bad as it is, is free from a defect which social 
systems better in other respects than Mohammad's are 
subject to is the extreme rarity of prostitution in Muslim 
towns. The courtesan forms a very small item in the 
census of a Mohammadan city, and is retained more for 
strangers from Europe than for the Muslim inhabitants. 
Instances are frequently occurring in the Indian law courts 
which show the strong feeling that exists on the subject 
among the Mohammadans of India. They consider it 
(juite inconceivable that a Muslim should have illicit 
intercourse with a free Muslimeh woman, and this incon- 
ceivableness of the action is urged as evidence in trials 
of the legitimacy of children. But whilst admitting the 
importance of this remarkable feature in Islam, it must 



ISLAm. xciii 

not be forgotten that the liberty allowed by their law 
to Muslims in the matter of concubines does not very 
materially differ from prostitution, and whilst the latter 
is directly forbidden by the dominant religion of Europe, 
concubinage is as directly permitted by Islam. 

One would think that long intercourse with Europeans 
might have somewhat raised the estimation of women in 
the East ; but either because travellers in the East are not 
always the best specimens of Western morality, or because 
the Eastern mind has an unequalled aptitude for assimilat- 
ing the bad and rejecting the good in any system it meets, 
it is certain that women are no better off now than they 
were in the East. A well-known con-espondent of a lead- 
ing daily print writes thus of Turkish home life : — 

' It is obvious tLat the home life of any people will depend almost 
entirely on the position which is assigned to women. It is not 
necessary to inquire what this position is according to the teaching 
of the sacred books of a race. Between Christianity and Isldm it 
is enough to notice that there is apparently no country where the 
first is the prevailing religion in which woman is hindered by 
religion from obtaining a position almost, if not quite, on an equality 
with man, and similarly, no country where the second prevails 
where woman is not in a degraded position. . . . Under Christianity 
she is everywhere free. Under Isldm she is everywhere a slave. 
The pious Mohammadan, like the pious Jew, thanks God that he 
has not been made a woman. The pious Mohammadan woman, 
like the pious Jewess, thanks God that she has been made accord- 
ing to the Creator's will. Man and woman alike recognise that to 
be a woman is to be in an inferior condition. This feeling of the 
degradation of woman so pervades Turkey that the poorer classes of 
Christians have even become infected by it. When a son is born] 
there is nothing but congratulations. When a daughter, nothing 
but condolences. A polite Turk, if he has occasion to mention his 
wife, will do so with an apology. ... He regards it as a piece of 
rudeness to mention the fact to you, and it would be equally rude 
for him to inquire after your wife, or to hint that he knew you were 
guilty of anything so unmentionable as to have one. Charles the 
1 Twelfth told his queen that she had been chosen to give children, 
i and not advice. The Turk regards woman as destined solely for the 
' same purpose and for his pleasure. Probably polygamy is of itself 
sufficient to account for the way in which Mohammadans regard 



xciv INTRODUCTION. 

"woman. But whether this is so or not, there is one influence which 
polygamy asserts which accounts for the low ideal of woman pre- 
valent in all Muslim countries. "When a man has a number of wives 
it is impossible that they can all become his companions and his 
confidantes, or that one of them can become his companion or con- 
fidante to the same extent as if the man had only one wife. Hence 
a man who is limited to one will not be contented with beauty 
alone. He must have a certain amount of intelligence and education. 
The Turk, on the other hand, has no reason whatever to think of 
anything except beauty. As he never means to see much of his 
wife, intelligence or education is a matter of small account. If he 
can afford it he will have a Circassian wife, a woman who has been 
reared with the intention of being sold, who has not an idea in her 
head, who has seen nothing, and knows nothing. Such a woman 
would be as objectionable as a wife to the great majority of Euro- 
peans as a South Sea Island beauty. But she satisfies the ideal of 
the Turk. She is beautiful, and beauty is all that he requires.' 

It is this sensual and degraded view of woman that 
destroys to so great an extent the good influence which 
the better part of the teaching of Islam might exert in the 
East. So long as women are held in so light an estpem, 
they will remain ignorant, and bigoted, and sensual ; and 
so long as mothers are what most Muslim mothers are now, 
their children will be ignorant and fanatical and vicious. 
In Turkey there are other influences at work besides the 
Mohammadam social system ; but Turldsh women may 
serve as an instance of the state of things which that 
system encourages. ' In those early years spent at home, 
when the child ought to have instilled into him some 
germ of those principles of conduct by which men must 
walk in the world if they are to hold up their heads 
among civilised nations, the Turkish child is only taught 
the first steps towards those vicious habits of mind and 
body which have made his race what it is. The root of 
the evil is partly found in the harem system. So long as 
that system keeps Turkish women in their present de- 
pressed state, so long will Turkish boys and girls be vicious 
and ignorant' As I have said elsewhere,^ ' It is quite 

1 The Fcople of Turkey, \iy a Consul's Daughter, preface, xxii. 



ISLAM. xcv 

certain that there is no hope for the Turks so long as 
Turkish women remain wliat they are, and home-training 
is the initiation of vice.' If the mother is ignorant and 
vicious, the son cannot form a high ideal of womanhood, 
and thus is barred off from the chivalrous spirit wherewith 
alone a man may reach to the highest love : — that 

' Subtle master under heaven, 
Not only to keep down the base in man, 
But teach high thought, and amiable words. 
And courtliness, and the desire of fame, 
A.nd love of truth, and all that makes a man.' 

The Muslin has no ideal of chivalry like this to make 
his life pure and honourable : his religion encourages an 
opposite view, and the women among whom he is brought 
up only confirm it. 

If Islam is to be a power for good in the future, it is 
imperatively necessary to cut off the social system from 



the religion. Ab the beginning, among a people^whoTiar 
advanced but a little way on the road of civilisation, the 
defects of the social system were not so apparent; but 
now, when Easterns are endeavouring to mix on equal 
terms with Europeans, and are trying to adopt the manners 
and customs of the West, it is clear that the condition of 
j their women must be radically changed if any good is to 
come of the Europeanising tendency. The difficulty lies 
in the close connection between the religious and social 
ordinances in the Kur-an: the two are so intermingled that 
it is hard to see how they can be disentangled without 
destroying both. The theory of revelation would have 
to be modified. Mushms would have to give up their 
doctrine of the syllabic inspiration of the Kur-an and ex- 
ercise their moral sense in distinguishing between the par- 
ticular and the general, the temporary and the permanent : 
they would have to recognise that there was much in 
Mohammad's teaching which, though useful at the time, is 
inapplicable to the present conditions of life; that his 
knowledge was often partial, and his judgment sometimes 



xcvi INTRODUCTION. 

at fault ; that the moral sense is capable of education as 
much as the intellect, and, therefore, that what was ap- 
parently moral and \\'ise in the seventh century may quite 
possibly be immoral and suicidal in a society of the nine- 
teenth century. Mohammad himself said, according to 
tradition, ' I am no more than a man : when I order you 
anything respecting religion, receive it ; and when I order 
you about the affairs of the world, then I am nothing more 
I than man.' And he seemed to foresee that the time 
I would come when his minor regulations would call for 
revision : ' Ye are in an age,' he said, ' in which, if ye 
abandon one-tenth of what is ordered, ye will be ruined. 
After this, a time wUl come when he who shaU observe 
one-tenth of what is now ordered will be redeemed.' ^ 

If Muslims would take these warnings of their prophet 
to heart, there would be some hope for Islam. Some few 
of the higher intellects among them have already admitted 
the principle of moral criticism applied to the Ku-ran; 
but it isjreryjioubtJuI wheth er ' rational Islam ' wiU. ever 
gain a w ide following, any more than 'rational Chris- 
^ tiamty? People in general do not care to think for them- 
""selves in matters religious. They Hke their creed served 
up to them as cooked meat, not raw flesh. They must 
have definite texts and hard-and-fast commandments to 
appeal to. They wUl not believe in the spirit, but prefer 
the letter. They will have nothing to say to tendencies, 
but must have facts. It is of no avail to speak to them 
of the spirit of a life or of a whole book ; they must hang 
their doctrine on a solitary sentence. They will either 
believe every letter of their scripture, or they will believe 
nothing. 

Such people make up the majority of the professors of 
Islam; and with them no reform, within Islam, seems 
possible. Among the upper (I wUl not call them the 
higher) classes, they are either fanatics or concealed infi- 

1 Mishkdt-el-Masdbeeh, i. 46, 51. 



ISLAM. xcvii 

dels ; and their lives are a proof of the incompatibility of 
ordinary Mohammadanism, real or nominal, with a high 
social and national life. Among the poorer classes, the 
social system has a more restricted field of operation, for 
the poor are naturally less able to avail themselves of the 
permissions of their Prophet. In a poor community Islam 
exerts an eminently salutary influence, as the condition of 
the Mohammadan converts in Western Africa conclusively 
proves. An able observer ,i whose African birth and train- 
ing qualify him in a high degree for properly under- 
standing the true state of his countrymen, whUst his 
Christian profession serves as a guarantee agaiast exces- 
sive prejudice in favour of Islam, has recorded his expe- 
rience of the work of Mohammadan missionaries in Liberia 
and the neighbouring parts of Africa. ' All careful and 
candid observers,' he remarks, ' agree that the influence 
of Islam in Central and West Africa has been, upon the 
whole, of a most salutary character. ... As an elimina- 
tory and subversive agency it has displaced or unsettled 
nothing as good as itself.' It has inculcated habits of 
moderation and soberness over the whole of the vast region 
covered by its emissaries ; and so great is the influence of 
its teaching, that where there are MusHm inhabitants, even 
in pagan towns, it is a very rare thing to see a person 
intoxicated. The Mohammadan converts drink nothing 
but water. ' From Senegal to Lagos, over two thousand 
miles, there is scarcely an important town on the seaboard 
where there is not at least one mosque and active repre- 
sentatives of Islam, side by side with the Christian teacher. 
And as soon as a pagan, however obscure or degraded, 
embraces the Muslim faith, he is at once admitted as an 
equal to the society. . . . The pagan village possessing a 
Muslim teacher is always found to be in advance of its 
neighbours in all the elements of civilisation. . . . The in- 



^ Dr. E. Blyilen. See his article on Mohammadanism in Western Africa 
in The People of Africa. (New York, 1871.) 



xcviii INTRODUCTION. 

troduction of Islam into Central and West Africa has been 
the most important, if not the sole, preservative against the 
desolations of the slave trade. Mohammadanism furnished 
a protection to the tribes who embraced it, by effectually 
binding them together ia one strong religious fraternity, 
and enabling them by their united efforts to baffle the 
attempts of powerful slave -hunters. Enjoying this com- 
parative immunity from sudden hostile incursion, industry 
was stimulated among them; industry diminished their 
poverty ; and as they increased in worldly substance, they 
also increased in desire for knowledge. Eeceiving a desire 
of letters by a study of the Arabic language, they acquired 
loftier views, wider tastes, and those energetic habits which 
so pleasingly distinguish them from their pagan neigh- 
bours.' Students often travel on foot from the west coast 
right across Africa to study at the great mosque of the 
Azhar in Cairo. It must be remembered that these results 
were observed in the very centre of African Christianity, 
in Sierra Leone and other coast settlements. It is said that 
in Sierra Leone three-fourths of the Muslim population 
were not born Muslims, but were converted from Chris- 
tianity or paganism ; and this, although ' all liberated 
Africans are always handed over to Christian missionaries 
for instruction, and their children are baptized and brought 
up at the public expense in Christian schools, and are thus, 
in a sense, ready-made Christians.' 

These facts show that, even in the present day, and with 
the competition of Christian missionary societies, Islam 
may be a power for good in poor communities — that it can 
not only give them a pure instead of a degraded faith, but 
can raise them socially and intellectually. The effects of 
a simple form of Islam on these African converts may 
give one some notion of its influence on its hearers in the 
early days, before the theologians had corrupted it. 

But this good influence is very partial and limited, even 
among the poorer classes. In communities where all are 
poor, Islam is an excellent agent for improvement ; but in 



ISLAM. xcix 

countries where there are many grades of wealth and rank, 
the poor only ape in a humble manner the vices of those 
whom they are taught to regard as their ' betters.' In all 
civilised and wealthy countries the social system of Islam 
exerts a ruinous influence on all classes, and if there is to 
be any great future for the Mohammadan world, that sys- 
tem of society must be done away. 

The woman's cause is man's ; they rise or sink 
Together, dwarfed oe godlike, bond or free, 



( c ) 



lY.—THE KUR-AN, 

The Muslim who reads the ICur-^ is like the orange-fruit, whose smell and tasto 
are sweet ; and the Muslim who reads not the Kur-Szi is like the date, which hath no 
smell, but its taste is sweet ; and the Hypocrite who reads not the Kur-&n is like the 
colocynth, without a smell, and with a bitter taste ; and the Hypocrite who reads it 
is like the sweet toazil, whose smell is sweet, but its taste bitter. — Tradition. 

It is an immense merit in the Kur-an that there is no 
doubt as to its genuineness. The 'Word of the Lord' 
came to Mohammad, and he uttered it, and the people 
wrote it down or committed it to memory ; and that very- 
word we can now read with full confidence that it has 
remained unchanged through nearly thirteen hundred 
years. 

The revelations came to Mohammad in many ways and 
at all times, but never ' in visions bright, transcendant, 
exalted. They came ghastly, weird, most horrible. After 
long solitary broodings, a something used to move Moham- 
mad, all of a sudden, with frightful vehemence. He 
" roared like a camel," his eyes rolled and glowed like red 
coals, and on the coldest day terrible perspirations would 
break out all over his body. When the terror ceased, it 
seemed to him as if he had heard bells ringing, " the sound 
whereof seemed to rend him to pieces " — as if he had heard 
the voice of a man — as if he had seen Gabriel — or as if 
words Tictd leen written in his heart. Such was the agony 
he endured, that some of the verses revealed to him well- 
nigh made his hair turn white.' 

No collection of these revelations was made during 
Mohammad's lifetime ; at his death, the Kur-an existed 
only as scattered chaotically among the believers. But 
about a year later, the death in battle of some of the men 



THE KUR-AX. ci 

^no had specially committed rassaires of the Knran to 
memory, and the dread that the -n-hcle cf Mchaniinad's 
teaching might Tanish. at the end ci a generatirn or t-svo, 
induced Aboo-Bekr to make the innoTatioii fiom -whicli 
every one shrank, and -he gave orders to the Prophet's 
secretary, Zeyd ion Thahit. to collect the fia cments of the 
Kur-vin in one book. So Zeyd gathered the Kiir-an fromi j 
pahn-leaves. skins, shciilder-hlades, stones, and the hearts 
CI men. arranged the chapters in a certain order, anvl pre- 
sented Aboo-Bekr ■^th a ^BItikui ■which ■probably Lhzerei 
in no essenti.tl particnlar frcm the book vre have no^v. 
All scholars are agreed that Zeyd did his tvork faithfolly, 
and neither inserted nor omitted anything: from party 
motives. B;it he seems to have occasionally mixed itr> 
fragments of very different date in one charter — llchani- 
mad himself countenanced this — and may possibly have 
omitted same portions that ■vreie not fonnd till after^svarcs. 
Some t^wenty years later a second recension ■was or- 
dered by the Khalif 'Othman. Sli;ht varieties of reading. 
mainly dhalectal, had arisen; s^vords ■^vere ne.ar being 
dra'vra over them: and it ■was evident that a serioaj schism 
■would come ahout if a uniform anthorised text of the 
K^ar-an ■were not provided. These sli-ht diadectal diher- 
ences ■were not sttihciently settled, it ■would seem, in Ac :c- 
Bekr's edition, so this ne^w re Tension was made by Zeyd and 
three men of the Kiireysh. for they would best kn:w the 
oricriaad dialect of the Knian. The new edition followed 
the first one. apparently, b:th in order and in matter; 
definitely fixinz. however, the true text in the dialect of 
the Knreysh. and possibly adding any verses that mi;ht 
have been ciiscovered since Zeyd's first edition. This 
seoond recensicn ■was conducted ■wiih the same careful 
fidelity and scrap^alctts impartiality as the first ; and it 
vras accepted ly all the cinerent p.trties that ■were then > 
ddspttting the supremacy. Ccries of this ecfition ■were 

■al cities of the em-:ire. and 



cii INTRODUCTION. 

This edition of 'Othman, made about A.D. 660, is the one 
that has ever sitice been the authorised and only version 
of the Kur-an throughout the Muslim world and in the 
studies of European linguists. The only differences that 
have since crept into the text are certain unimportant 
varieties in vocalisation and orthography and in the divi- 
sion of verses. 

It was a singular system these early revisers went upon. 
They seem, indeed, to have established the authenticity of 
each saying satisfactorily ; but in the arrangement of them 
they showed an extraordinary dulness. The tradition 
of the year when each revelation was spoken appears to 
have been lost even in the short time that had elapsed 
since it had^been spoken. People remembered the words, 
but seldom the occasion of the words. Hence the revisers 
had to devise an artificial order ; not according to subject, 
nor after the development of the style, but simply in order 
of length ! They put the longest chapters first and the 
shortest last ; that is to say, they inverted, roughly speak- 
ing, the true order, for the early soorahs were short and 
the later ones long. 

Eead in this order, the Kur-an is an unintelligible 
jumble. Carlyle may well say that ' nothing but a sense 
of duty could carry any European through the Kur-an.' 
You can trace no development of mind or doctrine in the 
present arrangement; it is indeed a confused mass of 
'endless iterations, long-windedness, entanglement, most 
crude, incondite.' But scholars have long discovered 
certain signs of a true order — several kinds of evidence by 
which a chronological arrangement of the Kur-an may 
be attempted. These are — (i.) The references to historical 
events in the Kur-an, as identified by tradition. These, 
however, are but few, and occur chiefly in quite the latest 
soorahs ; and tradition is apt to identify any reference with 
any event it chooses. A much more important test is (2.) 
the style; for a distinct development can be traced in the 
rime, in the length of verses, and in the words employed. 



THE K:UR-AN. ciii 

And then there is (3.) the matttr test, based on what -ne 
know of Mohammad's life, from which we can argue a cer- 
tain change in his preaching at Mekka, and still more when, 
from addressing idolaters in his birthplace, he came to 
preach to Jews and Christians at Medina. The danger of 
this last test is that each man forms his own theory of 
Mohammad's mental and religious growth, and may ar- 
range the soorahs in accordance with that theory. Even 
with these three tests, used by the most accomplished 
critics, it is impossible to arrive at an exact order, and to 
determine the precise chronological position of each soorah. 
But whUst it is admitted that an exact chronological 
arrangement of each individual chapter of the Kur-an is 
impossible, it is yet no less certaiti that the soorahs may 
be roughly grouped together, and that these groups can be 
definitely assigned to certain periods of Mohammad's career. 
Professor Th. Noldeke's Geschichte des Qordns has estab- 
lished his right to the first place in this science of Kur-an 
arrangement, and his order of soorahs may fairly be 
accepted as authoritative. Of this order Mr. Eodwell's 
English version of the Kur-an is an example, except that a 
few of the earliest soorahs are transposed. ]N"oldeke has two 
great divisions of the soorahs : those revealed at Mekka, 
and those revealed during the Medina period. Further, 
he divides the Mekkan division into three groups.^ 



1 It may be interesting to some Second Period ; — ^Ix., xlvii., xxix., 

readers to judge for themselves of the viii., xiv., Ixiii., vi., li,, Ixii., xxxi., 

diflterent characteristics of these four xliv., Ixxxvi., Ixxxi., xlv., xxxvi., 

groups of soorahs ; and though in a xx. 

series of translated selections it will Third Period: — lxxiii.,lxiv.,xxxv., 

hardly be possible to gain a thorough liii., xlvi., xvi., Ixxvi., xxxii., lix,, 

appreciation of the change of style or xxi., vii., Iv., xix., xii., x., Ixxii., 

matter, some notion may nevertheless xxviii., xi. 

be obtained by reading the First Part Medina: — ii., Ixxxiv., xxxiii., 

of these Selections in the following Ixxvii., xxxi v., xxiv., xxvi., ix,, Hi,, 

order (the numbers referring to the Ixxix., Ixvii., Ixi., iv., Ixxi., Ixix., 

figures at the head of each extract) : — Ixx. , Ixxv. , 1 xxxiii. , xlviii. , v. , Ixxviii. , 

Mekka— First Period : — xviL,lxvi., xxii., Ivi., Ivii., xlix., xxvii., xxv., 

Ixv., xviii., xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxLx., siii.,lviu.,lxxiv.,l.,liv., xxiii., Ixxx., 

xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xxx., iii., i. xv., Ixviii., Ixxxv., Ixxxii, 



Mekka- 



civ INTRODUCTION. 

( I. A.D. 612-617 (Eodwell, pp. 1-64) — To the Abyssinian 
exile (fifth year). 
II. A.D. 617-619 (EodweU, pp. 64-192) — Fifth and sixth 
years of Mohammad's mission. 
III. A.D. 619-622 (Eodwell, pp. 193^366) — Prom the 
seventh year to the "Flight. 
Medina A.D. 622-633 (Eodwell, pp. 366-555) — At Medina. 

Eead in this order the IJur-an becomes intelligible. It 
is still confused in its progression and strangely mixed in 
its contents; but the development of Mohammad's faith 
can be traced in it, and we can see dimly into the work- 
ings of his mind, as it struggles with the deep things of 
God, wrestles with the doubts which echoed the cavils of 
the unbelievers, soars upwards on the wings of ecstatic 
faith, till at last it gains the repose of fruition. Studied 
thus, the Elur-an is no longer dull reading to one who cares 
to look upon the working of a passionate troubled human 
soul, and who can enter into its trials and share in the 
joy of its triumphs. 

In the soorahs revealed at Mekka, Mohammad has but 
one theme — God ; and one object — to draw his people 
away from their idols and bring them to the feet of that 
God. He tells them of Him in glowing language, that 
comes from the heart's white heat. He points to the 
glories of nature, and tells them these are God's works. 
With all the brilliant imagery of the Arab, he tries to 
show them what God is, to convince them of His power 
and His wisdom and His justice. The soorahs of this 
period are short, for they are pitched in too high a key 
to be long sustained. The language has the ring of poetry, 
though no part of the Kur-an complies with the demands of 
Arab metre. The sentences are short and full of half- 
restrained energy, yet with a musical cadence. The 
thought is often only half expressed ; one feels the speaker 
has essayed a thing beyond words, and has suddenly dis- 
covered the impotence of language, and broken off with 
the sentence unfinished. There is the fascination of true 
poetry about these earliest soorahs ; as we read them we 



THE K:UR-AN. cv 

understand the enthusiasm of the Prophet's followers, 
though we cannot fully realise the beauty and the power, 
inasmuch as we cannot hear them hurled forth with 
Mohammad's fiery eloquence. From first to last the 
Elur-an is essentially a book -to be heard, not read, but this 
is especially the case with the earliest chapters. 

In the soorahs of the second period of Mekka we begin 
to trace the decline of the Prophet's eloquence. There 
are still the same earnest appeals to the people, the same 
gorgeous pictures of the Last Day and the world to come ; 
but the language begins to approach the quiet of prose, 
the sentences become longer, the same words and phrases 
are frequently repeated, and the wearisome stories of the 
Jewish prophets and patriarchs, which fill so large a place 
in the later portion of the Kur-an, now make their appear- 
ance. The fierce passion of the earliest soorahs, that could 
not out save in short burning verses, gives place to a calmer 
more argumentative style. Mohammad appeals less to 
the works of God as proofs of his teaching, and more to 
the history of former teachers, and the punishments of 
the people who would not hear them. And the charac- 
teristic oaths of the first period, when Mohammad swears 
by all the varied sights of nature as they mirrored them- 
selves in his imagination, have gone, and in their place we 
find only the weaker oath ' by the I?^ur-an.' And ' this 
declension is carried still further in the last group of the 
soorahs revealed at Mekka. The style becomes more 
involved and the sentences longer, and though the old 
enthusiasm bursts forth ever and anon, it is rather an echo 
of former things than a new and present intoxication 
of faith. The fables and repetitions become more and 
more dreary, and but for the rich eloquence of the old 
Arabic tongue, which gives some charm even to inex- 
tricable sentences and dull stories, the Kur-an at this 
period would be unreadable. As it is, we feel we have 
fallen the whole depth from poetry to prose, and the 
matter of the prose is not so superlative as to gii'e us 



cvi INTRODUCTION. 

amends for the loss of the poetic thought of the earlier ' 
time and the musical fall of the sentences. 

In the soorahs of the Medina period these fault s reach 
their climax. We read a singularly varledcollection of 
criminal laws, social regulations, orders for battle, har- 
angues to the Jews, first conciliatory, then denunciatory, 
and exhortations to spread the faith, and such-like hetero- 
geneous matters. Happily the Jewish stories disappear in 
the latest soorahs, but their place is filled by scarcely more 
palatable materials. The chapters of this period are inte- 
resting chiefly as containing the laws which have guided 
every Muslim state, regulated every Muslim society, and 
directed in their smallest acts every Mohammadan man 
and woman in all parts of the world from the Prophet's 
time tin now. The Medina part of the Kur-an is the most 
important part for Islam, considered as a scheme of ritual 
and a system of manners ; the earliest Mekka revelations 
are those which contaiu what is highest in a great religion 
and what was purest in a great man. 

The word Kur-dn means the crying, reciting, reading, 
and is applied not only to the whole book, but to any 
chapter or section of it. The Kur-an is also called El- 
Furkan, ' the Distinguisher,' and El-Mushaf, ' the Volume,' 
and El-Kitab, ' the Book,' and Edh-Dhikr, ' the Admoni- 
tion.' The !Kur-an contains, in its ordinary form, 114 
chapters {soorahs), 6616 verses (dydt, Hterally ' signs ' or 
' wonders '), 77,934 words, and 323,671 letters, according 
to the estimates of laborious Muslim divines, which differ, 
however, in a slight manner in consequence of the various 
divisions of verses. After the first chapter, which is a short 
prayer (the Eatihah), the soorahs gradually decrease in 
length from 289 verses in the second to from three to six 
in the ten concluding chapters. Each chapter is headed 
by a title, taken from same prominent word in it (as the 
' Chapter of the Striking,' ' of the Cow,' &c.) ; beneath 
which is noted whether it was promulgated (according to 
tradition) at Mekka or Medina, and the number of its 



THE KUR-AN. cvii 

verses. Then follow the words : — ' In the Name of God, 
the Compassionate, the Merciful ; ' after which the chapter 
begins. To twenty-nine chapters are prefixed certain letters 
{e.g., ch. ii. on p. 4), or a single letter, which have never 
been successfully interpreted. The Muslims believe them 
to conceal profound mysteries. In Soorah 55a refraia is 
found, and traces of a like imitation in Soorahs 54 and 17. 
It is probable that the Kur-an was originaUy chanted in 
somewhat the same manner as it is in the present day. 

The Kur-an is also divided in thirty sections, and these 
are again subdivided ; and from this division rather than 
from chapter and verse do the Muslims generally quote. 

' The Muslims absolutely deny that the Kur-an was com- 
posed by their Prophet himself, or by any other for him ; 
it being their general and orthodox belief that it is of divine 
original ; nay, that it is eternal and uncreated, remaining, 
as some express it, in the very essence of God ; that the 
first transcript has been from everlasting by God's throne, 
written on a tablet of vast size, called the Preserved Tablet, 
in which are also recorded the divine decrees, past and 
future; that a copy from this tablet, in one volume op 
paper, was, by the ministry of the angel Gabriel, sent 
down to the lowest heaven, in the month of Eamadan, on 
the Night of Power ;^ whence Gabriel revealed it to 
Mohammad by parcels, some at Mekka, and some at 
Medina, at different times during the space of twenty- 
three years, as the exigency of affairs required; giving 
him, however, the consolation to show him the whole 
(which they teU us was bound in silk, and adorned with 
gold and precious stones of Paradise) once a year ; but in 
the last year of his life he had the favour to see it twice. 
They say that few chapters were delivered entire, the most 
part being revealed piecemeal, and written down from 
time to time by the Prophet's amanuensis, in such or such 



1 This is generally believed to be the night of (that is, preceding) the 27th 
day of the month. 



cviii INTRODUCTION. 

a part of such or such a chapter, till they were completed, 
according to the directions of the angel. The first parcel 
that was revealed is generally agreed to have been the first 
five verses of the ninety-sixth chapter. After the new 
revealed passages had been from the Prophet's mouth taken 
down in writing by his scribe, they were published to his 
followers, several of whom took copies for their private 
use ; but the far greater number got them by heart. The 
originals, when returned, were put promiscuously into a 
chest, without regard to any order of time, for which reason 
it is uncertain when many passages were revealed. 

' The Kur-an being the Muslims' rule of faith and prac- 
tice, it is no wonder its expositors and commentators are 
so very numerous ; and it may not be amiss to take notice 
of the rules they observe in expounding it. 

' One of the most learned commentators distinguishes 
the contents of the E^upan into allegorical and literal. The 
former comprehends the more obscure, parabolical, and 
enigmatical passages, and such as are repealed or abro- 
gated ; the latter, those which are plain, perspicuous, liable 
to no doubt, and in full force. 

"To explain these severally in a right manner, it is neces- 
sary, from tradition and study, to know the time when 
each passage was revealed, its circumstances, state, and 
history, and the reasons or particular emergencies for the 
sake of which it was revealed. Or, more explicitly, whe- 
ther the passage was revealed at Melika or at Medina ; 
whether it be abrogated, or does itself abrogate any other 
passage ; whether it be anticipated in order of time or 
postponed ; whether it be distinct from the context or 
depend thereon ; whether it be particular or general ; and 
lastly, whether it be implicit by intention, or explicit in 
words. 

' By what has been said, the reader may easily believe 
that this book is held by the Muslims in the greatest 
reverence and esteem. The more strict among them dare 
not touch it without being first washed or legally purified ; 



THE KUR-AN. cix 

whicli lest they should do by inadvertence, they sometimes 
write these words of the book itself on the cover or label, 
" None shall touch it but they who are purified." They 
read it with great care and respect, never holding it below 
their girdles. They swear by it, consult it in their weighty 
occasions, carry it with them to war, inscribe sentences 
from it on their banners, sometimes adorn it with gold 
and precious stones, and knowingly suffer it not to be in 
the possession of any person of a different persuasion. It 
is the foundation of their education ; and the children in 
the schools are taught to chant it, and commit the whole 
of it to memory.' 



( cxi ) 



BOOKS. 

I^' reading a large number of -n-orks bearing upon the subjects ot 
this Introduction, I have remarked a curious freedom of quotation 
in most of the writers. I find the same sentence, or at least the 
same thought, repeated in several books without any reference to 
the author who first pvit it forth. Each writer seems to have studied 
his predecessors with such minuteness that he can qiiote their verv 
words, but he does not appear to remember whence the words 
came. When a thought has once been perfectly expressed, it were 
a ridiculous vanity to seek to frame itin different words, and so far 
it is undoubtedly wise to make use of the best of what has preceded 
us ; nevertheless, it is well to acknowledge our debt. Tet thoughts, 
and even phrases, impress themselves on the memory till one un- 
consciously comes to appropriate them as his own ; and this, I 
doubt not, is the cause of much of the plagiarism I have noticed. 
It is extremely probable that I have been gtiilty of the same sin. I 
have crowded my pages with marks of quotation, sometimes with 
foot references, sometimes without (for the student of the subject 
will know where to look for them), but it is quite likely that I have 
often unconsciously used another's phrase or metaphor without 
rendering thanks. So I now append a list of the principal European 
books I have used, and beg once and for all to record my indebted- 
ness to their writers. The original Arabic aiithorities will dispense 
with my acknowledgments, and the catalogue of them would not 
assist the English reader who wishes to proceed further in the study 
of the subject, for whom this list may prove usefuL 

BuBCKHAKDT, J. L. Nofes on the Bedouins and TTahdbys. 2 vols. 

1831. 
DEnscH, EiiA>'rEL. Literary Remains. 1874. 
Dozy, K. Essai sur VEistoire de VIslamisme, trad, par V. Chauvin. 

1879- 
Fbesnel, F. Lettres mr VEistoire des Arales avant VIslamisme. 

1836-38. 
Hughes, Rev. T. P. Notes on Muhammadanism. 2d ed. 1877. 



cxfi AUTHORITIES. 

Keemer, a. von. Oeschichte der herrsehenden Ideen des Isldms. 1 868. 

Culturgesohichte des Orients unter den Clialifen. 2 vols. 

1876, 1877. 

Lane, B. W. Tlie Modern Egyptians, sth ed. i vol. i860. 

The Tliousand and One Nights (notes). 2d ed. 3 vols. 

1859, i860. 

Selections from the Kur-dn. ist ed. 1843. 

Arabic-English Lexicon, Preface, &c. 1863. 

Ltall, C. J. Translations from the Samdseh and the Aghdni ; The 

Mo'allaqah of Zuheyr. (Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, 1878.) 
MuiB, SirW. The Life of Mahomet. 4 vols. New edition.^ 1867. 
NoLDBKB, Th. Geschichte des Qordns. i860. 

Beitrdge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alien Araher. 

1864. 

Palghave, W. Gifpoed. Central and Eastern Arabia. 6tli ed. 

1871. 
PekcevaIi, A.-P. Caussin de. Essai sur VMistoire des Arabes avant 

I'Islamisme. 3 vols. 1847, 1848. 
Poole, R. Stuart. Pagan and Muslim Arabs. (Fortnightly 

Review, October 15, 1865.) 
EODWELL, J. M. El-Kordn. 2d ed. 1876. 
Sale, G. The Koran. 1836. 

SfeiLLOT, L.-A. Histoire GSnSrale des Arabes. 2ded. 2 vols. 1877. 
Smith, R. Bosworth. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. 2d ed. 

1876. 
Spbenger, a. Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad. 2d ed. 

3 vols. 1869. 
St. Hilaire, T.-Barth^lemt. Mahomet et le Goran. 2d ed. 1865. 
TiELB, C. P. Outlines of the History of Religion, translated by J. E. 

Carpenter. (Triibner's Philosophical Library. Vol. vii. 1877.) 
Weil, G. Das Leben Mohammed's nach Ihn Ishak bearbeitet von 

Ibn Hisoham. 2 vols. 1864. 

1 In the Introduction, the references published an interesting essay on old 

are to the new one volume edition, Arabic poetry in the Journal of the 

1877. Since writing my chapter on Royal Asiatic Society (zi. part i. 

the early Arabs, Sir "W". Muir has 1879). 



SELECTIONS FROM THE KURAN. 



PART THE FIRST. 



NOTE. 

The foUowiDg extracts were all translated by Mr. Lane, ■with the exception 
of those to which an obelus (t) is prefixed, for which I alone am responsible. 
In the text, the words in italics are inserted from the commentai-y of the 
Jelaleyn; words in square brackets [ ] are Mr. Lane's additions, inserted 
where the difference between the Arabic and English idioms required them. 

In the foot-notes, words in italics are from the commentary of the Jela- 
leyn ; notes followed by the initial S., from Sale's Koran ; the letters B., Z., 
and A. F. , following S. in parenthesis, point to the authorities from which 
Sale's note was derived, the gresit commentaries of El-Beyd3,wee and Ez- 
Zamakhsharee, and Abu-l-Fid^'s Life of Mohammad, respectively. The other 
notes are Mr. Lane's, either from the original edition or extracted from his 
Modem Egyptians (5th i vol. ed. i860), or his notes to the Thousand and 
One Nights (2d ed. 1859) ; except those enclosed in square brackets, which 
are due to myself. 

The numbers at the end of each extract refer to the chapter (soorah) and 
verse in Fliigel's text of the Kur-&n (LipsiK, 1869). 

S. L. P. 



PART THE FIRST. 



THE OPENING PRAYER.^ 

EL-FlTIffAH. 

I. 
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 

Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds,^ 
The Compassionate, the Merciful, 
The Eling of the day of judgment. 
Thee do we worship, and of Thee seek we help.^ 
Guide us in the right way. 

The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, 
Not of those with whom Thou art wroth, nor of the 
erring. (i.) 



1 The ' Lord's Prayer ' of the Mus- ^ That is, of all creatures. 

lims, recited several times in each of ^ ['Do we beg assistance,' in the 

the five daily pr,ayers, and on many original ed.] 
other occasions. 



( 4 ) 



PREMONITION. 



II. 



A.L.M.^ Eespecting this Book there is no doubt ; ^ it is a 
guidance for them that fear Him, 

Who believe in the unseen,^ and perform the prayer, and 
of what We have bestowed on them expend. 

And who believe in that which hath been sent down 
to thee,* and what hath been sent down before thee,^ and 
have firm assurance of the life to come. 

Those follow a right direction from their Lord, and those 
are they who shall prosper. 

As for those who have disbelieved, it wiLL be equal to 
them whether thou admonish them or admonish them not : 
they will not believe. 

God hath sealed their hearts and their ears, and over 
their eyes is a covering, and for them is [ordained] a great 
punishment. (ii. i-6.) 



1 God knovxth best what He meaneth * The Kur-dn. 
by these letters. ° The Fentateitch and the Cfospel 

^ That it is from God. and other hooks. 

^ In the resurrection and paradise 
and hell. 



( 5 ) 



GOD. 



III. 



Sat, He is God, One [God] ; 

God, the Eternal. 

He begetteth not nor is begotten, 

And there is none equal unto Him. (cxii.)^ 

IV. 

The Throne-Verse? 

God! There is no God but He, the .S'wer-Living, the 
Ever-Subsisting. Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep. To 
Him belongeth whatsoever is in the Heavens and what- 
soever is in the Earth. Who is he that shall intercede with 
Him, unless by His permission ? He knoweth what [hath 
been] before them and what [shall be] after them, and they 
shall not compass aught of His knowledge save what He 
willeth. His Throne comprehendeth the Heavens and the 
Earth,^ and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And 
He is the High, the Great. (ii 256.) 



1 This chapter is held in particu- the five daily prayers, and often en- 
lar veneration by the Mohammadans, graved on an ornament of gold or 
and declared, by a tradition of their silver or a precious stone to be worn 
prophet, to be equal in value to a as an amulet. 

third part of the -whole Kor^n. — S. ^ ' The seven heavens and earths 

2 One of the most admired passages in comparison "with the Throne are 
in the iK^ur-an, recited (though not by nought but as seven dirhems [silver 
all Muslims) at the close of each of coins] cast into a shield.' — Trad. 



6 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICVR-AN. 

T. 

tSAT, God, to whom belongeth dominion, Thou givesfc 
dominion to whom Thou wilt, and from whom Thou wilt 
Thou takest it away ; Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and 
whom Thou wilt Thou humblest. In Thy hand is good. 
Verily Thou art aU-powerful. 

Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and Thou 
causest the day to pass into the night ; and Thou bringest 
forth the living from the dead, and Thou bringest forth 
the dead from the living ; and thou givest sustenance to 
whom Thou wilt without measure. (iii. 25, 26.) 

VI. 

Blessed be He in whose hand is the dominion and who 
is aU-powerful ; ^ 

Who hath created death and life, that He may prove 
you, which of you [will be] best in works : and He is the 
Mighty, the Very-Forgiving : 

Who hath created seven heavens, one above another. 
Thou seest not any fault in the creation of the Compas- 
sionate. But lift up the eyes again to heaven. Dost thou 
see any fissures ? 

Then lift up the eyes again twice ; the sight shall return 
unto thee duU and dim. (Ixvii. 1-4.) 

vir. 

Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and 
the earth in six days : then He ascended the throne. He 
causeth the night to cover the day ; it foUoweth it swiftly : 
and He created the sun and the moon and the stars, made 
subject utterly to His command. Do not the whole crea- 
tion and command belong to Him ? Blessed be God, the 
Lord of the Worlds. (vii. 52.) 

' [' Able to do everything,' orig. ed. Lit. ' potent over everything.'] 



GOD. 7 

Tin. 

We have placed in heaven fhe twelve signs of the Zodiac, 
and adorned them for the beholders with the constellations; 

And We have guarded them Q}y means of shooting stars) 
from every accursed devil,i 

Excepting him who listeneth by stjealth, whom a mani- 
fest shooting star pursueth. 

We have also spread forth the earth, and thrown thereon 
firm mountains,^ and We have caused to spring forth in it 
every kind [of green thing] weighed.^ 

And We have provided for you therein necessaries of 
life, and for him whom ye do not sustain ; * 

Andthere is notathingbutthe storehouses thereof are with 
Us, and We send it not down save in determined quantities. 

We also send the fertilizing winds,^ and We send down 
water from heaven, and give you to drink thereof; and 
ye are not the storers of it. 

And verily We give life and death, and We are the heirs 
of all the creation. 

We also know those who have gone before you, and We 
know those who follow after [you]. 

And verily thy Lord will assemble them together : for 
He is Wise, Knowing. (xv. 16-25.) 

1 Lit. ' driven away with stones.' and there, listening to the conversa- 

This expression alludes to a tradition, tion of the angels respecting things 

that Abraham, when the devil tempted decreed by God, obtain knowledge of 

him to disobey God, in not sacrificing futurity, which they sometimes im- 

his son, drove the fiend away by throw- part to men, who by means of talis- 

ing stones at him; in memory of which, mans or certain invocations make them 

the Mohammadans, at the pilgrimage to serve the purposes of magical per- 

of Mecca; throw a certain number of formances. Shooting stars are often 

stones at the devil, with certain cere- hurled at the devils when they thus 

monies, in the valley of Mina. — S. listen. 

The devils, or evil jinn, it is said, ^ That it may not mcrve with its in- 

had liberty to enter any of the seven habitants. 

heavens till the birth of Jesus, when ^ Or determined. 

they were excluded from three of ^ Slaves and beasts and cattle : for 

them ; on the birth of Mohammad it is God only who sustaineth them. 

they were forbidden the other four. ^ Which cause the clouds to fill with 

They continue, however, to ascend water. 
to the confines of the lowest heaven. 



8 SELECTIONS FROM THE KURAN. 

IX. 

And your God is One God : there is no god but He, the 
Compassionate, the Merciful. 

Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and 
the varying of night and day, and the ships that course 
upon the sea laden with what is profitable to mankind, 
and the water that God hath sent down from heaven, quick- 
ening the earth thereby after its death, and scattering about 
it all kinds of beasts ; and in the changing of the winds, 
and the clouds that are compelled to do service between 
heaven and earth, are signs unto a people who understand. 

Yet among men are those who take to themselves, be- 
side God, idols, which they love as vMh the love for God : 
but those who have believed are more loving towards God 
tlmn these towards their idols. (ii. 158-160.) 

X. 

Verily God causeth the grain to come forth, and the 
date-stone : He bringeth forth the Kving from the dead,i 
and He bringeth forth the dead from the living : ^ This is 
God ; then wherefore are ye turned away ? 

He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the 
night for rest, and the sun and the moon for reckoning 
time : this is the appointment of the Mighty, the Wise. 

And it is He who hath ordained for you the stars, that 
ye may be guided by them in the darknesses of the land 
and of the sea : We have clearly shown the signs of Our 
•power unto the people who know.* 

And it is He who hath produced you from one soul, 
and there is a place of rest and of storing:* We have 
clearly shown the signs to the people who understand. 

And it is He who hath sent down water from heaven, 
and We have produced thereby the germs of everything, 

• As the bird from the egff. ' Or consider. 

^ As the egg from the bird. * For you previously to birth. 



GOD. 9 

and We have caused the green thing to come forth there- 
from, from which We draw forth grains massed; and 
from the palm-tree, from its fniit-hranch, clusters of dates 
heaped together:^ and gardens of grapes, and the oUve 
and the pomegranate, like one another^ and not like.^ Look 
ye at their fruits when they bear fruit, and their ripening. 
Verily therein are signs unto the people who believe. 

Yet they have set up the Jian* as partners of God, 
though He hath created them, and without knowledge 
have they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters. 
ExtoUed be His purity, and high be He exalted above that 
which they attribute [to Him] ! 

He is the Author of the heavens and the earth. How 
then should He have offspring, when He hath no consort, 
and hath created everything and knoweth everything ? 

This is God your Lord. There is no God but He, the 
Creator of everything : therefore worship ye Him ; ^ and He 
is guardian over everything. 

The eyes see Him not, but He seeth the eyes : and He 
is the Gracious, the Knowing. (vi. 95-103.) 

XI. 

It is He who maketh the lightning to appear unto you, 
[causing] fear and hope of rain, and formeth the pregnant 
clouds. 

And the thunder proclaimeth His perfection with His 
praise ; and [likewise] the angels, in fear of Him. And 
He sendeth the thunderbolts, and striketh with them 
whom He pleaseth, whilst they dispute concerning God ; 
for He is mighty in power.® (xiii. 1 3, 14.) 

1 [' Compacted,' orig. ed. Strictly, to a man unto whom the Prophet sent 

words such as "come forth' should one to invite him to the faith; hut 

be supplied before 'clusters.'] he said, Who is the apostle of God, 

^ In leaf. ' In fruit. and what is God! Is he of gold, or 

* [Genii.] since they have obeyed them silver, or brass? Whereupon a thun- 

in worshipping idols. See p. 33. derbolt fell upon him, and struck off 

^ Alone. hit skull. 

"■ This was revealed with reference 



lO SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-AN. 



XII. 

With Him are the keys of the hidden things : none 
knoweth them but He : and He knoweth whatsoever is on 
the land and in the sea, and there falleth not a leaf but 
He knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth, 
nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a 
distinct writing.^ 

And it is He who taketh your souls at night, and know- 
eth what ye have gained in the day ; then He reviveth 
you therein,^ that an appointed time^ may be fulfilled. 
Then unto Him shall ye return: then will He declare 
unto you what ye have done. 

And He is the Supreme* over His servants, and He 
sendeth watchers over you,^ until when death cometh 
unto any one of you, Our messengers take his soul, and 
they fail not. 

Then are they^ returned unto God their Lord, the 
True.'' Doth not judgment belong to Him ? And He is 
the most quick of reckoners. 

Say,^ Who delivereth you from the darknesses of the 
land and of the sea, when ye supplicate Him huinbly and 
in secret, saying, ' If Thou deliver us from these dangers, 
we will assuredly be of [the number of] the thank- 
ful'? 

Sat, God delivereth you from them and from every 
afSiction. (vi. 59-64.) 

XIII. 

Verily God will not forgive the associating with Him 
[any other being as a god], but will forgive other sins unto 



1 On the Preserved Tablet. ' Angels who register your deeds. 

^ Restoring your souls in the day- * The creatures, 
time. ' That Be may recompense them. 

■> The term of life. ^ Moftammad, to the people of 

* ['Predominant,' orig. ed.] Mekkeh. 



GOD. ir 

whom He pleaseth ; and whoso associateth [another] with 
God hath wrought a great wickedness. (iv. 5 1.) 



XIV. 

They ^ say, ' The Compassionate hath gotten offspring : ' 
Ye have done an impious thing. 

It wanteth little hut that the heavens be rent thereat 
and that the earth cleave asunder, and that the mountains 
fall down in pieces.^ 

For that they have attributed offspring to the Compas- 
sionate, when it beseemeth not the Compassionate to get 
offspring. 

There is none of all that are in the heavens and the 
earth but he shall come unto the Compassionate as a ser- 
vant.^ He hath known them and numbered them with an 
exact numbering. 

And each of them shall come unto Him on the day of 
resurrection, alone.* 

fVerily those who have believed and have done the 
things that are right, on them the Compassionate will 
bestow [His] love. (xix. 91-96.) 



XV. 

men of Mehheh, a parable is propounded, wherefore 
hearken unto it. Verily, those idols which ye invoke be- 
side God can never create a fly, although they assembled 
for it : and if the fly carry off from them aught,^ they can- 
not recover the same from it. Weak are the seeker and 
the sought ! (xxii. 72.) 



^ Namely, the Jews and the Chris- ' On the day of resurrection. 

Hans, and those [Arabs] who assert that * Without wealth or helper, 

the angels are daughters of God. ' Of the perfume and saffron with 

- [' Demolished,' orig. ed.] which they are overdaubed. 



12 SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-AN. 

xvr. 

The likeness of those who take to themselves Tutelars ^ 
instead of God is as the likeness of the spider, which 
maketh for herself a dwelling ; and the frailest of dwellings 
surely is the dwelling of the spider ! If they knew ^ ! 

Verily God knoweth whatever thing they invoke in 
His stead ; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. 

And these parables ^ we propound unto men ; but none 
understand them except the wise. 

God hath created the heavens and the earth in truth : 
verily therein is a sign unto the believers. 

(xxix. 40-43.) 

^ Idols. lated * parable ' at the beginning of 

2 This they would net worship them,, the preceding extract, and ' likeness ' 

'[' Similitudes,' orig. ed. It is the twice in this extract.] 
plviral of the same word as that trans- 



( 13 ) 



MOHAMMAD AND THE KUR-AN. 
XVII. 

+0 thou enwrapped m fhy mantle} 

Arise and warn ! 

And thy Lord — magnify Him ! 

And thy raiment — purify it ! 

And the abomination ^ — flee it ! 

And bestow not favours that thou mayest receive again 

with increase. 
And for thy Lord wait thou patiently.* (Ixxiv. 1-7.) 

xvm. 

fBy the morning-brightness, 
And by the still of night,* 

Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath He hated thee. 
And surely the Future will be better for thee than the Pre- 
sent, 
And thy LordwiU give to thee, and thou wilt be well-pleased. 
Did He not find thee an orphan, and sheltered thee ? 
And He found thee erring, and guided thee. 
And found thee needy, and enriched thee. 
Then, as to the orphan, oppress him not ; 
And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away ; 
Ajid as for the bounty of thy Lord, teU. it then [abroad]. 

(xciii.) 

>■ pt is said that Mohammad, when ' [This rendering is Mr. Rodwell's. 

a revelation came down to him, used I do not think it can be bettered.] 

to say, ' Cover ye me with something * [Lit. ' And by the night when it 

whereby I may become warm.' Lane: beoometh still;' or (but this is less 

Lexicon, voce dathara.] strongly supported) ' when it darken- 

2 [Idolatry.] eth.'] 



14 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 



XIX. 

Sat, I do not say unto you, 'With me^ are tlie treasures 
of God,' nor, ' I know what is unseen,' nor do I say unto 
you, ' VerUy I am an angel.' I follow not [aught] but 
what is revealed unto me. (vi. 50') 

XX. 

fSAY, I am only a man like unto j^ou. It is only re- 
vealed unto me that your God is One God. He then that 
hopeth to meet his Lord, let him work a righteous work, 
and in the worship of his Lord let him not associate any 
[other god]. (xviii. i lo.) 

XXI. 

tSAY, If I err, only against myself shall I err, but if I 
am rightly-guided, it [is] of what my Lord hath revealed 
to me. VerUy, He is the Hearer, the Near-at-hand ! 

(xxxiv. 49.) 

XXII. 

Mohammad is nought but a Messenger.^ The Messengers 
have passed away before him. If then he die or be slain, 
will ye turn round upon your heels ? * But he who turn- 
eth round upon his heels will not injure God a whit ; * and 
God will reward the thankful. (iii. 138.) 

XXIII. 

Verily We have revealed unto thee as we revealed unto 
Noah and the prophets after him, and as We revealed 
unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the 
tribes, and Jesus, and Job, and Jonah, and Aaron, and So- 
lomon ; and We gave unto David the Psalms, (iv. 161.) 

^ [' In my possession,' orig. ed.] and otter instances substituted 

^ ['Apostle,' in the orig. ed.; but 'Messenger,'which exactlyrepresents 

Chriatian associations have somewhat the Arabic ra&ool,\ 

restricted the original meaning of the ' To unielief. 

word, and I have therefore in this * He mil only injure himself. 



MOtTAMMAD AND THE KUR-AN. i; 

XXIV. 

^ Sat unto them, Do ye argue with us concerning God, 
when He is our Lord and your Lord,^ and when we have 
our works and ye have your works, and when we are 
sincere towards Him ? 

Nay, do ye say that Ahraham and Ishmael and Isaac 
and Jacob and the tribes were Jews or Christians ? Say 
unto them, Are ye the more knowing, or is God ? ^ And 
who is more unrighteous than they who conceal a testi- 
mony that they have from God? * But God is not heedless 
of that which ye do. (ii. 133, 134.) 

XXV. 

. Bememher, when Jesus the son of Mary said, ' children 
of Israel, Verily I am the Messenger of God unto you, 
confirming the Law which [was] before me, and giving 
good tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, 
whose name [shaU be] Ahmad.' ^ But when he {Ahmad) 
came unto them with evident proofs, they said, ' This is 
manifest magic ! ' 

And who is more unrighteous than he who forgeth false- 
hood against God, when he is invited unto El-Islam ? And 
God directeth not the unrighteous people. 

^ The Jews said unto the Muslims, * They are the Jews, who have con- 

We are the people of the first hook (the cealed the testimony of God, in the 

Pentateuch), am(JoMr^ii)feA{thepoint Pentateuch, of Abraham's ortho- 

to which we turn our faces in praying) doxy, 

is the more ancient, and the prophets ^ [Mohammad and Ahmad are from 

have not been of the Arabs, and if the same root, hamd, meaning *praise;' 

Mohammad were a prophet, he had and hoth names were borne by the 

been of us. Therefore the following Prophet. The supposed prediction of 

was revealed. Mohammad's coming arose, perhaps, 

2 So that He may choose of His ser- from a confusion between Parakletos 
vants whom He pleaseth. and Perikleitos or possibly Periklytos 

3 That is, God is; and He hath in Evang. S. Jo. xvi. 7, where the 
acquitted Abraham of belonging to coming of 'theParaclete'ispromised; 
them by His saying [Kur. iii. 60], in some Arabic version of which the 
Abraham, was not a Jew nor a Chris- word may have been igncrantly ren- 
tian ; and the other persons above-men- dered by ' Ahmad,' and thus reported 
tioued with him were followers of him. to Mohammad.] 



i6 SELECTIONS FROM THE liUR-AN. 

They desire to put out the light of God with their 
mouths : but God will perfect His light, though the un- 
believers be loth thereto. 

It is He who hath sent His messenger with the direc- 
tion and the religion of truth, that He may exalt above 
every religion, though the polytheists be loth thereto. 

(lii. 6-9.) 

XXVI. 

Those to whom We have given the Scripture know him 
{Mohammad) as they know their children.^ But a party 
of them do conceal the truth^ while they know. 

(ii. 141.) 

XXVII. 

The Jews said unto Mohammad, ' Verily God hath en- 
joined us ^ that we should not believe an apostle until he 
bring us a sacrifice which fire shall devour.' 

Sat, Apostles have come unto you before me witli 
manifest proofs,* and with that ye have mentioned : ^ 
then wherefore did ye slay them, if ye be speakers of truth ? 

(iii. 179, 180.) 

XXTIII. 

The unbelievers of Mekkeh have sworn by God, with the 
mightiest of their oaths, that if a sign come unto them 
they wiU assuredly believe therein. Say, Signs are only 
with God. And what will make you to know ? ^ Verily 
if they come they will not believe. 

And We will turn away their hearts and their eyes,' as 
they believed not therein the first time ; and We will leave 
them in their transgression, wandering about in perplexity. 



>■ By the description of him in their ' Their belief, if the signs come, 

hooks. The copies of the original differ in 

' The description of him. thia verse, but not in an important 

3 In the Law. * Or miracles. manner. 

' As Zechariah and John, and ye ' From the truth, so that they shall 

slew them. not believe. 



MOffAMMAD AND THE I<:UR-AN. 17 

And though "We had sent down unto them the angels, 
and the dead had spoken unto them, and We had gathered 
together about them everything in tribes, they had not 
believed unless God had pleased ; but the greater number 
of them know not. (vi. 1 09-1 11.) 

XXIX. 

And they have said, ' thou unto whom the Admoni- 
tion^ hath been sent down, thou art certainly possessed 
by a Jinnee.^ 

Why dost thou not come unto us with the angels, if thou 
be of those that speak truth ? ' 

We send not down the angels save with justice,^ nor 
would they then be respited. 

VerUy, We have sent down the Admonition, and We 
will surely preserve it. 

And We have sent Messengers before thee among the 
sects of the former generations ; 

And there came not unto them any Messenger but they 
had him in derision : 

In like manner will We put it into the hearts of the 
sinners of Meklceh to do so ; 

They shall not believe in him, and the punishment of 
the former generations hath passed. 

And if We should open above them a gate in heaven, 
and they should pass the day mounting up to it. 

They would say, ' Our eyes are only intoxicated, or 
rather we are a people enchanted.' (xv. 6-15.) 

XXX. 

tVerUy, it is the excellent Ig^ur-an, 
Written in the Preserved Book.* 
None shall touch it but they who are purified.* 
It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds. 
(Ivi. 7^-79) 

' The ^ur-dn. 2 Or art ma J. ^ [This line ia of ten inscribed on the 

» That is, with punishment. covers of copies of the Kur-an.] 

■* [The original copy kept by God.] 



1 8 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 



XXXI. 

Say, Verily if mankind and the Jinn assembled toge- 
ther for the purpose of producing the like of this ]5^ur-an/ 
they could not produce the like thereof, although they 
helped one another.^ 

And We have explained unto men in this Kur-an every 
IdnA of parable,^ but the greater number of men have re- 
fused [all else] save unbelief, 

And have said, ' "We will by no means believe in thee 
until thou cause a fountain to gush forth for us from the 
earth, 

Or thou have a garden of palm-trees and grapes, and 
. thou cause rivers to spring forth in the midst thereof in 
abundance. 

Or thou cause heaven to fall down upon us, as thou hast 
pretended, in pieces, or thou bring God and the angels 
before us, 

Or thou have a house of gold, or thou ascend into 
heaven, and we will not believe thy ascending until thou 
cause a book to descend unto us which we may read.' 
Say, Extolled be the perfection of my Lord! Am I 
[aught] save a man, [sent] as a Messenger ? 

And nothing hath hindered men from believing when 
the direction hath come unto them, but their saying, 
' Hath God sent a man as a Messenger ? ' * 

Say, If there were upon the earth angels walking at 
ease,^ We had sent down unto them from heaven an angel 
as a Messenger.^ 

Say, God is a sufficient witness between me and you : 
for He knoweth and seeth His servants, (xvii. 90-98.) 



^ In eloqiience. * And not sent an angel } 

2 [In orig. edition, and literally, ^ Instead of mankind. 

'Although some of them assisted ^ Porno apostle is sent unto a- people 

others.'] but one of their ovm kind. 
^ That they may he admonished. 



MOHAMMAD AND THE ^UR-AN. 19 

XXXII. 

And this 3Jur-an is not an invention ^ of one who is not 
Godjbut it hath been sent d,ovyn, as a confirmation of those hooks 
which luive been before it, and an explanation of the Scripture 
— there is no doubt thereof — from the Lord of the Worlds. 

Do they say, ' He ^ hath forged it ? ' Sat, Then bring 
ye a Soorah * like unto it and call whom ye can,* other 
than God, if ye speak truth. 

Nay they have charged with falsehood that which they 
comprehend not, and the explanation thereof^ hath not 
yet come unto them. In like manner did those who were 
before them charge their Messengers with falsehood ; but see 
how was the end of the offenders ! (x. 38-40.) 

XXXIII. 

If ye be in doubt concerning that which We have sent 
down unto Our servant Mohammad,^ bring ye a Soorah 
like unto it,^ and invoke your witnesses,^ other than God, 
if ye be speakers of truth. 

But if ye do it not (and do it ye shall not), fear the 
fire whose fuel is men and stones : it is prepared for the 
unbehevers. (ii. 21, 22.) 

xxxiv. 

Whatsoever* verse We abrogate or cause thee to forget, 
We will produce one better than it or like unto it. Dost 
thou not know that God is aU-powerful ? 

Dost thou not know that to God helongeth the dominion 
of the heavens and the earth, and that beside God ye 
have no protector or defender ? (ii. 100, 10 1.) 

1 Forgery. ^ Mohammad. ^ Your deities whom ye worship, 

' Chapter. * To assist you. that they may aid you. 

" The result of the threat that it ' When the unbelievers cavilled at 

containeth. abrogation, and said, ' Mohammad 

* As to itsbeing from God. commandeth his companions to-day 

' In eloquence and beauty of com- to do a thing and forbiddeth it to- 

position and information concerning morrow,' the following was revealed. 

what is unseen. 



20 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

XXXV. 

When We substitute a verse in the stead of a verse 
(and God best knowetb what He revealeth), they say, 
' Thou art but a forger ! ' — but the greater number of them 
know not ! 

Say, The Holy Spirit Gabriel hath brought it down 
from thy Lord with truth, to stablish those who have 
believed, and as a direction and good tidings unto the 
Muslims. 

And We well know that they say, ' Only a man ^ teach- 
eth him.' The tongue of him to whom they incline is 
foreign, and this is the perspicuous Arabic tongue. 

(xvi. 103-105). 

XXXVI. 

Say, If the sea were ink, for writing the words of my 
Lord, the sea would be dried up or ever the words of my 
Lord were exhausted; and [so] if we brought its like in 
aid.^ (xviii. 109). 



' Namely, a Christian slave whom whom is doubtful. Mohammad's 

the Prophet used to visit. [The Mek- reply is that the Christian's was a 

kans accounted for the production foreign tongue, whilst the Kar-£n 

of the Kur4n by an unlearned man was in Arabic .] 
like Mohammad by ascribing it to ' [' As a further supply,' orig.ed,] 
the teaching of some Christian, 



( 21 ) 



THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL. 

XXXVII. 

tThe Striking ! what is the Striking ? 

And what shall teach thee what the Striking is ? 

It is a day when men shall he like scattered moths, 

And the mountains like carded wool ! 

Then as for him whose balances are heavy, his shall he a 

life well-pleasing. 
As for him whose balances are light, his abode shall be the 

Pit. 
And what shall teach thee what that is ? 
A raging fire ! (ci.) 

XXXVIII. 

tWhen the earth is shaken with her shaking, 

And the earth hath cast forth her dead,^ 

And man shall say, ' What aileth her ? ' 

On that day shall she tell out her tidings, 

Because thy Lord hath inspired her. 

On that day shall men come one by one to behold their 

works. 
And whosoever shall have wrought an ant's weight of good 

shall behold it, 
And whosoever shall have wrought an ant's weight of ill 

shall behold it. (xcix.) 



- [Lit. ' Burdens : ' explained by El-Beydsiwee and others as: buried 
treasures and as dead.] 



23 SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-AN. 

XXXIX. 

■f-When tlie heaven shall be cloven asunder, 

And when the stars shall be scattered, 

And when the seas shall be let loose. 

And when the graves shaU be turned upside-down. 

Every soul shall know what it hath done and left undone. 

man ! what hath seduced thee from thy,generous Lord, 

Who created thee and fashioned thee and disposed thee 
aright % 

In the form which pleased Him hath He fashioned thee. 

Nay, but ye treat the Judgment as a lie. 

Verily there are watchers over you. 

Worthy recorders, 

Knowing what ye do. 

Verily in delight shall the righteous dwell ; 

And verUy the wicked in Hell[-Kre] ; 

They shall be burnt at it on the day of doom. 

And they shall not be hidden from it. 

And what shall teach thee what the Day of Judgment is ? 

Again : What shall teach thee what is the Day of Judgment? 

It is a day when one soul shall be powerless for another 
soul; and all on that day shall be in the hands of 
God. (Ixxxii.) 

XL. 

When the sun shall be wrapped up. 

And when the stars shall fall down. 

And when the mountains shall be made to pass away, 

And when the camels ten months gone with young^ shall 

be neglected. 
And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together. 
And when the seas shall overflow,^ 
And when the souls shall be joined to their hodies, 

'■ The most liiglily esteemed of pro- these renderings, and also ' be dried 

jierty. up,' are supported by yarious autho- 

^ [' Be set on fire,' orig. ed. Botli rities. See Lane : Lex. voce sejera,] 



THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL. 23 

And wKen the child ^ that hath beeu buried alive shall be 

asked 
For what crime she was put to death, 
And when the books ^ shall be laid open, 
And when the heaven shall be removed,^ 
And when HeU shall be made to burn, 
And when Paradise shall be brought near, — 
Tlun every soul shall know what it hath done. 

(Ixxxi. 1-14.) 

XLI. 

Hath the news of the Overwhelming reached thee ? 

Countenances on that day [shall be] abased. 

Labouring, tolling : 

They shall feel the heat of scorching fire, 

They shall be given to drink from a fountain fiercely 

boiling, 
There shall be no food for them but of daree',* — 
It shall not fatten nor satisfy hunger. (Ixxxviii. 1-7.) 

XLII. 

"When one blast shall be blown on the trumpet. 

And the earth shall be raised and the mountains, and 

be broken to dust with one breaking, 
On that day the Calamity shall come to pass : 
And the heaven shall cleave asunder, being frail on that day. 
And the angels on the sides thereof; and over them on 

that day eight of the angels ^ shall bear the throne of 

thy Lord. 
On that day ye shall be presented /or the reckoning ; none 

of your secrets shall be hidden. 
And as to him who shall have his book given to him in 

his right hand, he shall say,^ ' Take ye, read my book • 

1 Woman-child. * A kind of thorn which no ieast 

' Of men's actions, eateth, by reason of its impurity. 

' As the skin is pluched off a ^ Or eight ranis of them. 
slaughtered sheep. ' Unto a company, by reason of his 

joy thereat. 



24. SELECTIONS FROM THE JCUR-AN. 

Verily I was sure I should come to my reckoning. 
And his [shall be] a pleasant life 
In a lofty garden, 

Whose clusters [shall be] near at hand. 
1 ' Eat ye and drink with benefit on account of that which 
ye paid beforehand in the past days.' 

But as to him who shall have his book given to him in his 
left hand, he shall say, ' would that I had not had 
my book given to me. 

Nor known what [was] my reckoning ! 

would that my death had been the ending of me ! 

My wealth hath not profited me ! 

My power is passed away from me ! ' 

' ^ Take him and chaia him, 

Then cast him into hell to be burnt. 

Then in a chain of seventy cubits bind him : 

For he believed not in God, the Great,' 

Nor urged to feed the poor ; 

Therefore he shall not have here this day a friend. 

Nor any food save filth 

Which none but the sinners shall eat.' 

(Ixis. 13-37.) 

XLiir. 

When the Calamity shall come to pass 
There shall not be a soul that will deny its happening,^ 
[It will be] an abaser of some, an exalter of others; 
When the earth shall be shaken with a violent shaking, 
And the mountains shall be crumbled with a [violent] 

crumbling. 
And shall become fine dust scattered abroad ; 



1 And it shall he said unto such. " As it hath denied it in the present 

^ And it shall he said unto the world. 
Iccpers of hell. 



THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL. 25 

And ye shall be three classes. 

And the people of the right hand,^ what [shall be] the 

people of the right hand ! ^ 
And the people of the left hand, what the people of the 

left hand! 3 
And the Preceders,* the Preceders ! 
These [shall be] the brought-nigh [unto God] 
In the gardens of delight, — 
A crowd of the former generations. 
And a few of the latter generations. 
Upon inwrought couches. 
Eeclining thereon, face to face. 
Youths ever-young^ shall go unto them round about 
With goblets and ewers and a cup of flowing wine, 
Their [heads] shaU. ache not with it neither shall they be 

drunken ; 
And with fruits of the [sorts] which they shall choose. 
And the flesh of birds of the [kinds] which they shall 

desire. 
And damsels® with eyes'^ like pearls laid up 
We will give them as a reward for that which they have 

done. 
Therein shall they hear no vain discourse nor accusation 

of sin, 
But [only] the saying, ' Peace ! Peace ! ' 

And the people of the right hand — what [shall be] the 

people of the right hand ! 
[They shall dwell] among lote-trees without thorns 
And bananas loaded with fruit,^ 



^ Those who shall receive their boohs ^ ['Destined to continue for ever 

in their right hands. in boyhood,' orig. ed.] 

" How honourable shall they be ! " [Jooreeyehs.] 

' Sow contemptible shall they be I ' Intensely black and white, large- 

* In the way to good fortune eyed. 

{namely, the Prophets), how honour- " From bottom to top. 
able shall be ! 



26 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

And a sliade ever-spread, 

And water e2;er-flowing, 

And fruits abundant 

Unstayed and unforbidden, 

And couches raised. 

Verily we have created them^ by a [peculiar] creation, 

And have made them virgins, 

Beloved of .their husbands, of equal age [with them]. 

For the people of the right hand, 

A crowd of the former generations 

And a crowd of the latter generations. 

And the people of the left hand — what [shall be] the 
people of the left hand ! 

[They shall dwell] amidst burning wiad and scalding 
water, 

And a shade of blackest smoke, 

Not cool and not grateful. 

For before this they were blest with worldly goods, 

And they persisted in heinous sin,^ 

And said, ' When we shall have died and become dust and 
bones, shall we indeed be raised to life. 

And our fathers the former generations ? ' 

Say, Verily the former and the latter generations 

Shall be gathered together for the appointed time of a 
known day. 

Then ye, ye errtag, belying [people], 

Shall surely eat of the tree of Ez-Zakkoom, 

And fill therewith [your] bellies. 

And drink thereon boUing water. 

And ye shall drink as thirsty camels drink. — 

This [shall be] their entertainment on the day of retribu- 
tion. (Ivi. 1-56.) 

^ [The Hooreeyehs.] ' Polytheism. 



THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL. 27 

XLIV. 

Verily "We have prepared for the offenders fire, tlie smoke 
of wliich shall encompass them ; and if they ask relief, 
they shall be relieved with water like the dregs of oil, 
which shall scald fheir faces. Miserable shall be the 
drink, and evil shall be the couch. 

As for those who have believed and done the things that 
are right, verily We wiU not suffer the reward of him that 
hath done well to perish : 

For these are gardens of perpetual abode, beneath them^ 
shall rivers run ; they shall be adorned therein with brace- 
lets of gold, and shall wear green garments of fine brocade 
and of thick brocade, reclining therein on the thrones. 
Excellent shaU. be the reward, and pleasant shall be the 
coiich. (xviii. 28-30.) 

XLV. 

Call to miTid the day when We will cause the mountains 
to pass away and thou shalt see the earth plain; and 
We will assemble them ^ and not leave of them any one. 

And they shall be set before thy Lord in ranks : ' Now 
are ye come unto Us as We created you the first time.^ 
Xay, ye thought that We would not perform [Our] promise 
to you.' * 

And the book shall be put [in every man's hand], and 
thou shalt see the sinners fearful because of that which 
is [written] therein, and they shall say, ' woe is us ! 
what meaneth this book ? It leaveth neither a small sin 
nor a great sin, but it enumerateth it ! ' And they shall find 
that which they shall have wrought present;^ and thy 
Lord will not deal unjustly with any one. 

(xviii. 45-47.) 

' Beneath the tents thereof. ' Of the resurrection. 

' The believers and the unbelievers. ^ Written in their boohs. 
' One after another, barefooted, 
naked, unarmed. 



28 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

XLVI. 

They have not esteemed God with the estimation due 
unto Him, since the whole earth [shall be] His handful on 
the day of resurrection, and the heavens [shall be] folded 
together by His right hand. Extolled be His perfection 
and high be He exalted above the [things] they associate 
with Sim I 

And the trumpet shall be blown, and they that are in 
the heavens and they that are in the earth shall die, except 
those whom God shall please. Then it shall be blown 
another time ; and lo, they shall arise, waiting. 

And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord. And 
the book shall be placed, and the prophets shall be brought 
and the witnesses, and judgment shall be given between 
them with truth, and they shall not be treated unjustly. 

And every soul shall be fully paid the reward of what 
it hath done, aud He well knoweth what they do. 

And those who have disbelieved shall be driven in 
troops unto heU, until when they come to it, its gates shall 
be opened, and its guardians shall say unto them, ' Did 
not Messengers from among you come unto you rehearsing 
the signs of your Lord, and warning you of the meeting of 
this your day ? ' They shall answer, 'Yea:' (But the sen- 
tence of punishment ^ hath been justly pronounced against 
the unbelievers :) 

It shall be said, ' Enter ye the gates of hell to remain 
therein for ever : ' and evil shall be the abode of the proud. 

And those who have feared their Lord shall be urged on 
in troops unto paradise, until when they come unto it, its 
gates are already opened, and its guardians say unto them. 
' Peace be on you ! Ye have been good : therefore enter it 
to abide therein for ever.' 

And they shall say, ' Praise be to God, who hath per- 
formed unto us His promise, and hath made us to inherit 

^ / will surely jiU Hell, &o. [Kur. vii. 17, given below, p. 51]. 



THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL. 29 

the land, that we may dwell in Paradise wheresoever we 
please ; and how excellent is the reward of the workers!'^ 
And thou shalt see the angels encompassing the throne, 
extolling the perfection with the praise of their Lord. And 
judgment shall be given between them ^ with truth : and it 
shall be said, ' Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds ! ' 

(xxxix. 67-75.) 

XLVII. 

Paradise shall be brought near unto the pious, to a place 
not distant from them, so that they shall see it. 

And it shall ie said unto them, ' This is what ye have 
been promised, unto every one who hath earnestly turned 
himself unto God and kept Mis laws. 

Who hath feared the Compassionate in secret, and come 
with a penitent heart : 

Enter it in peace : this is the Day of Eternity.' 

(1- 30-3 30 

XLTin. 

fFairseeming to men is the love of pleasures from 
women and children, and hoarded riches of gold and silver, 
and pastured ^ horses, and flocks, and corn-fields. Such is 
the enjoyment of this world's life ! But God, goodly is 
the home with Him ! 

Say, Shall I tell you of better things than these pre- 
pared in the presence of their Lord for those that fear 
[God] ? Theirs shall be gardens beneath which rivers run, 
and in which they shall abide for ever, and stainless wives, 
and acceptance with God : for God regardeth His servants, 

— Who say, ' our Lord, verily we have believed ; for- 
give us then our sins, and keep us from the torment of 
the fire,' — 

The patient, and the truthful, and the lowly, and the 
charitable, and they who seek pardon at each daybreak. 

(iii. 12-15.) 

' Of righteousness. " Between all creatures. 

' [Or ' marked ' or ' goodly. '] 



30 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

XLIX. 

t And repute not those slain in God's cause ^ to be dead : 
nay, alive with their Lord, they are provided for ; 

Joyful in what God of His bounty hath vouchsafed 
them, and rejoicing for those that follow after them, but 
have not yet overtaken them, that on them no fear shall 
come, neither shall they grieve ; 

Eejoicing at the favour of God and His bounty, and that 
God suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish. 

(iii. 163-165.) 

L. 

Whosoever doeth the things that are right, whether male 
or female, being a believer, — these shall enter paradise, and 
shall not be wronged ia the least degree. (iv. 123.) 

LI. 

For those who have disbelieved in their Lord [is prepared] 
the punishment of heU; and evil [shall be] the journey. 2 

When they shall be cast into it they shall hear it braying,^ 
while it boileth, well-nigh bursting with fury. (Ixvii. 6-8.) 

LII. 

If thou shouldst see * those who have offended ^ when 
they see the punishment ! ^ — for power belongeth altogether 
unto God, and God is severe in punishing : 

When those who have been followed will declare them- 
selves clear of those who have followed [them],'' when 
they have seen the punishment, and the ties [that bound 
them together] shall be severed from them : 

And those who have followed shall say, ' that there 
were for us a return to the world ! then would we declare 
ourselves clear of them, like as they have now declared 
themselves clear of us ! ' After this manner will God show 

^ [Fighting for the faith.] the original differ here, but the 

^ [Or 'end,' 'result.'] differences are unimportant. 

' "Arms on armour clashing bray'd ^ By taking to themselves idols. 
Horrible discord." — Par. Lost, vi. *' Thou wouldst see a great thing ! 
209. ' Denying their having led them 

* Mohammad. The copies of into error. 



THE RESURRECTION, PARADISE, AND HELL. 31 

them their evil works, for which [they shall pour forth] 
lamentations ; and they shall not come forth from the 
fire. (ii. 160-162.) 

LIII. 

And the Devil ^ shall say, when the matter shall have 
been determined,^ ' Verily God promised you the promise 
of truth ; * and I promised you,* but I deceived you : yet 
had I no power over you ; 

But I only called you and ye answered me. Therefore 
blame not me, but blame your own selves. I am not a 
helper of you, neither are ye helpers of me. Verily I 
renounce your having associated me vnth God heretofore.' 

(xiv. 26, 27). 

LIV. 

Verily the hypocrites shall be in the lowest abyss of the 
fire, and thou shalt not find for them any defender. 

(iv. 144.) 
LV. 

They ^ will ask thee respecting the Hour,® at what time 
is its coming iixed. Say, The knowledge of it is only with 
my Lord : none shall manifest it in its time but He. It 
is grievous in the heavens and in the earth. It shall not 
come upon you otherwise than suddenly. 

They will ask thee as though thou wert well acquainted 
therewith. Say, The knowledge of it is only with God : 
but the greater number of men know not ! 

Say, I possess not for myself power to procure advan- 
tage nor to avert mischief, save as God pleaseth : and if I 
knew things unseen, I should obtain abundance of good, and 
evil should not happen unto me. I am only a denouncer 
of threats unto tlie unlelievers, and an announcer of good 
tidings unto the people who believe. (vii. 186-188.) 

^ Ibtees. ^ Respecting the resurrection and 

- And the people of paradise are retribution, 
introduced into paradise, and the * The contrary, 
people of the fire into the fire, and ^ The people of Mehheh, 
when the latter have assemiled around * Of the resurrection, 
him. 



( 32 ■) 



PREDESTINATION. 

LVI. 

A soul cannot die unless by permission of God, accord- 
ing to a writing of God, definite as to time. (iii. 139.) 

LVII. 

They say [whose companions were slain at the battle of 
Ohod], ' If aught of the affair had been submitted to us we 
had not been slain here.'^ Say, Had ye been in your 
houses, those of you who were decreed to be slain had gone 
forth to the places where they lie. (iii. 148.) 

LVIII. 

Wheresoever ye be, death will overtake you, although 
you be in lofty towers. If good fortune betide them,^ they 
say, ' This is from God ! ' But if evil betide them, they 
say, ' This is from thee, Mohammad I ' Say, All is from 
God. And what aileth this people that they are not near 
to understanding what is said unto them ? 

Whatsoever good betideth thee, man, it is from God ; 
and whatsoever evil betideth thee, from thyself is it. 

(iv. 80, 81.) 

LIX. 

t No soul can believe but by the permission of God. 

(x. 100.) 
LX. 

t And whoso wiUeth taketh the way to his Lord : But 
ye shall not will it, unless God will it. (Ixxvi. 29, 30.) 

LXI. 
t Expend in the way of God, and throw not yourselves 
into destruction.^ (ii. 191.) 

^ If the choice had been given us ' Namely, the Jews, 
we had not gone forth and had not ^ [See Modern Egyptians, 5tli ed., 
been slain. p. 284.! 



( 33 ) 



ANGELS AND JINN> 

Lxn. 

They say, ' The Compassionate hath gotten offspring.' ^ 
Extolled be His purity ! Kay, tlicy are, honoured servants. 

They prevent Him not in speech,^ and according to His 
command they act. 

He knoweth what is before them and what is behind 
them, and they shall not intercede 

Save for whom He shall please, and they fear in dread 
of Him. 

And him* among them who saith, 'I am a god beside Him,' 
that [angel] We will recompense with HelL (xxi. 26-30.) 

LXin. 

t Say, It hath been revealed to me that a company of 
the Jinn listened [to me] and said, ' Verily we have heard 
a wonderful discourse ^ 

Which guideth unto right : wherefore we believed in it, and 
we will by no means associate any one with oui- Lord. . . . 

We tried the heaven, but we found it filled with a 
mighty garrison and darting flames ; 

We sat on some of its seats to listen, but whosoever 
listeneth now findeth a dartiag flame in ambush for him. 

We know not whether e\-il be meant for them that are 
on the earth, or whether their Lord intendeth for them a 
right guidance. 

There are among us the good, and among us those who 
are not so, — we are of various ways. (Ixxii. r, 2, 8-1 1.) 

■' [On the Tarioua orders of the ' TTuy speak not until after lie 
Jinn, see Lane's Thousand and hath, spoken. 
One Nights, Introduction, note 21. * Iblees [the devil]. 
And see above, pp. 7, 9. ' [In the Arabic, 'Kurdn.'] 

* Consisting of the angels. 

C 



( 34 ) 



TRUE RELIGION AND FALSE. 

LXIV. 

Verily God commandeth justice and tlie doing of good 
and the giving unto tlie relation: and He forliiddeth wicked- 
ness and iniquity and oppression. He adnaonisheth you 
that ye may reflect (xvi. 92.)! 

LXT. 

fBy the Night when she spreadeth her veil, 

By the Day when it appeareth in glory, 

] '.y Him who made male and female ; 

Verily your aims are indeed different ! 

As thim for him who giveth [alms] and feareth [God], 

And yieldeth uKsrnt to the Good, 

To him will We therefore maLo easy the path to happiness. 

But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches. 

And calleth the Good a lie, 

To him will We make fiasy the path to distress ; 

And what shall his wealth avail him when he gocth down 

lieadlong ? 
Truly man's guidance is with Us, 
And Ours the next Life and this life Trosont. 
I warn you therefore of the flaming lire; 



^ This is saidto'bethe'moHtr.irmpri:- slmniiing. Jfc in neeillcBs to enumo- 

hensiveveree in the A'ur-dnvjitA respect rate thi; viiriouH virtues and KiiiH 

to good and evil. [TheoornmentatorH which they oouBidur are implied in 

Bay it coiitainH the whole duty o£ each of the sittplo words of the text.] 
man, bulb in reapeot of doing and of 



TRUE RELIGION AND FALSE. 35 

None shall be burned at it but the most wretched, — 
Who hath called the truth a lie and turned his back 
But the greatly God-fearing shall escape it, — 
Who giveth away his substance that he may become 

pure. 
And who [offereth] not favours to any one for the sake of 

recompense. 
But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most 

High. 
And assuredly in the end he shall be well content.^ 

(xcii.) 

LXVI. 

fWhat thinkest thou of him who treateth the day of judg- 
ment as a lie ? 
It is he who thrusteth away the orphan. 
And stirreth not [others] up to feed the poor. 
Woe, then, to those who pray. 
Who in their prayer are careless, 
Who make a show [of devotion]. 
But refuse help [to the needy].^ (cvii.) 

LXVII. 

Your turning your faces in grayer towards the east and 
the west is not piety : but the pious is he who believeth in 
God and the Last Day, and in the angels, and the Scripture, 
and the prophets, and who giveth money, notwithstanding 
his love of it, to relations and orphans, and to the needy 
and the son of the road,^ and to the askers and for the 
freeing of slaves, and who performeth prayer and giveth 
the [appointed] alms, and those who perform their cove- 
nant when they covenant, and the patient in adversity and 
affliction and in the time of violence. These are they 
who have been true : and these are they who fear God. 

(ii. 172.) 

^ [Mr. Kodwell's rendering.] ' The traveller. 



36 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

LXYIIL 
f He only should visit the temples of God who believeth 
in God and the Last Day, and observeth prayer, and payeth 
the [appointed] alms, and dreadeth none but God: for 
these are among the rightly-guided. (ix. i8.) 

LXIX. 

ye who have believed, make not your abns of no effect 
by reproach and harm, like him who expendeth his wealth 
to make a vain show unto men, and believeth not in God 
and the Last Day. For his likeness is as the likeness of a 
smooth stone upon which was earth, and a violent rain hath 
fallen upon it, and left it smooth and hard. [Such] can- 
not have aught that they have gained, and God directeth 
not the unbelieving people. 

And the likeness of those who expend their wealth 
from a desire of God's being pleased, and from assurance 
on their part,^ is as the Kkeness of a garden upon a hill, 
on which a violent rain hath faUen, and it hath produced 
its fruit twofold : and if a violent rain fall not upon it, a 
gentle namfalUth. (ii. 266, 267.) 

LXX. 

If ye manifest alms, good will it be : but if ye conceal 
them and give them to the poor, it will be better for you ; 
and it wUl expiate some of your sins. (ii. 273.) 

LXXI, 

A kind speech and forgiveness are better than alms 
which hurt^ foUoweth. (ii. 265.) 

Lxxn. 

Eevile not what they invoke in preference to God,^ lest 
they revile God evilly without knowledge. (vi. 108.) 

' Of being rewarded for so doing, ^ Or reproach. ^ Their idola. 



TRUE RELIGION AND FALSE. 37 

T.XXMI . 

Turn away evil by that wMcli is better : and lo, he be- 
tween whom and thyself [was] enmity [shall become] as 
though he were a warm friend : 

But none is endowed with this^ except those who have 
been patient, and none is endowed with it except he who 
is greatly favoured.^ (xli 34, 35.) 

T.XXI V- 

•f-If ye are greeted with a greeting, then greet ye with a 
better greeting, or at least return it: verily God taketh 
count of all things. (iv. 88.) 

T.XXY. 

■f-If there be any [debtor] under a difficulty [of paying 
his debt], let [his creditor] wait until it be easy : but if ye 
remit it as alms, it wiU. be better for you. (iL 280.)' 

^ Dispodiion. 

^ [Lit., and in orig. ed., ' hath great good fortune.*] 

' IMod. Egypt., 104.] 



( 38 ) 



BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS. 

LXXVI. 

tDispute not with the people of the Scripture ^ unless in 
the kindliest^ manner, except against such of them as deal 
evilly [with you]; and say [unto them], We believe in 
that which hath been sent down unto us and [that which] 
hath been sent down unto you, and our God and your God 
is one, and to Him are we self-surrendered.^ 

(xxix.4S.) 

LXXTII. 

Verily those who have believed,* and those who have 
become Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, who- 
soever hath believed in God and the Last Day, and hath 
done that which is right, — they shall have their reward with 
their Lord, and there shall come no fear upon them, neither 
shall they grieve. (ii. 59.)^ 

LXVIII. 

Whoso desireth any other religion than El-Islam, it shall 
not be accepted of him, and in the world to come he [shall 
be] of those that perish. (iii. 79.) 

txxix. 

The likeness of those who have disbelieved^ is as the 
likeness of him who crieth out to that which heareth not 
[aught] save a calling and a voice. They are deaf, dumb, 
blind: therefore they do not understand. (ii. 166.) 

^ [The Christians and Jews.] * In the prophets. 

^ [Or 'best:' so in Mod. Egypt., ^ [Some suppose this verse to be 

280.] abrogated by the next extract : 

' [This is Mr. Rodwell's word, and others try to explain it away.] 

is, I think, more expressive of the ori- ^ And of him who inviieth them to 

ginal {muslimoona) than ' resigned. '] the true religion. 



BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS. 39 

LXXX. 

[As to] the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour ^ 
in a plain, which the thirsty imagineth to be water, until 
when he cometh to it he findeth it not aught : ^ (but he 
findeth God there, and He fully payeth him his account : 
and God is swift in reckoning :) 

Or, like darknesses in a deep sea, covered by waves over 
waves, — over them clouds, — darknesses one over another : 
when [one] putteth forth his hand he is not nearly able to 
see it. And unto whomsoever God giveth not light, he 
hath no light. (xxiv. 39, 40.) 

LXXXI. 

Propound unto them as a parable two men, on one of 
whom* We bestowed two gardens of grape-vines, and We 
surrounded them with palm-trees, and put corn between 
them ; each of the gardens brought forth its fruit, and 
failed not thereof at all ; 

And We caused a river to flow between them ; and he 
had abundance. And he said unto his companion, disput- 
ing with him, ' I am greater than thou in wealth and more 
mighty in family.' 

And he entered his garden, being unjust to his own 
soul.* He said, ' I do not think that this will ever perish. 

And I do not think that the [Last] Hour will come ; 
and if I should be taken back unto my Lord, I shall 
assuredly find a better [garden] than it in return.' 

His companion said unto him, disputing with him, 'Dost 
thou disbelieve in Him who created thee of dust, then 
cdmpletely fashioned thee into a man ? 

God is my Lord, and I will not associate any one with 
my Lord. 

And why when thou enteredst thy garden didst thou 

1 Mirage {,mr6h). Irought before his Lord, lie findeth 

^ In like manner the unbeliever not his works, 
reckoneth that his works will profit ' The unbeliever, 
him, until, when he dieth and is ^ By his unbelief. 



40 SELECTIONS FROM THE J<:UR-AN. 

not say, ' What God willetlii [cometli to pass] : there is no 
power but in God ? ' If thou seest me to be inferior to 
thee in amount of wealth and in number of children, 

Perhaps my Lord may give me [what will be] better 
than thy garden ; and may send upon [thine] thunderbolts 
from heaven, so that it shall become a smooth and slippery 
ground ; 

Or its water may become deep-sunk [in the earth], so 
that thou shalt not be able to draw it.' — 

And his possessions were encompassed with destruction, 
and he began to turn down the palms of his hands for 
that which he had expended thereon; for it[s vines 
were] falling down upon its trellises; and he said, '0 
would that I had not associated any one with my Lord ! ' 

And there was no party for him to assist him instead of 
God, nor was he able to defend himself. 

In that case^ protection [belongeth] unto God, the True ; 
He is the best rewarder and the best giver of success. 

(xviii. 31-42.) 

LXXXII. 

Thou shalt certainly find^ the Jews and those who have 
attributed partners to God* the most violent of men in 
hatred of those who have believed; and thou shalt cer- 
tainly find the nearest of them to friendship to those 
who have believed those who say, ' We are Christians.' 
This is because there are among them priests and monks, 
and because they are not proud.^ 

And when they hear that which hath been sent down 
unto the Apostle, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears 

^ In the tradition it is said, ' Who- * Of the people ofMelclceh. 
soever hath any good thing given unto ^ So as to disdain receiving the truth, 

him, whether of family or wealth, and (This was revealed as respecting the 

saith on the occasion thereof, ' What envoys who came from the King of 

Ood willeth {' md-shddrlldh) \ There Abyssinia: the Prophet recited the 

is no power but in God ! ' he will not Soorat YdrSeen [xxxti.], whereupon 

see in it aught displeasing.' they wept and became Muslims, and 

^ On th£ day of resurrection. said, ' Sow like is this to that which 

' Mohammad. was revealed to Jesus. ') 



BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS. 41 

because of the truth that they know : they say, ' our 
Lord, we helieve, therefore write us down among those 
who bear witness.' (v. 85, 86.) 

LXXXIII. 

The likeness of those who were charged to bear in mind 
the Law [of Moses], then bore it not in mind/ is as the 
likeness of the ass that beareth books. Evil is the like- 
ness of the people who have charged the signs of God witl 
falsehood : and God directeth not the unjust people. 

axii. 5.) 

LXXXIV. 

^Among men are those who say, We believe in God and 
in the Last Day : but they are not believers. 

They try to deceive God and those who have believed ; 
but they deceive not any except themselves, and they 
know [it] not. 

In their hearts is a disease, and God hath increased 
their disease, and for them [is ordained] a painful punish- 
ment, because they have charged with falsehood the, pro- 
phet of God. 

And when it is said unto them, Corrupt not in the earth, 
they reply, ' We are only rectifiers.' 

Assuredly they are the corrupters ; but they know [it] 
not. 

And when it is said unto them, Believe ye as other men 
have believed, they say, ' Shall we believe as the fools have 
believed ? ' Assuredly they are the fools ; but they know 
it not. 

And when they meet those who have believed, they say, 
' We believe : ' but when they retire privately to their 
devils,^ they say, ' We hold with you : we only mock at 
them' 

^ Not believing in Mohammad. 

' With respect to the hypocrites the following was revealed. 

' Their chiefs. 



42 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

God will mock at them, and keep them in their exceed- 
ing wickedness, wandering about in perplexity. 

These are they who have purchased error in exchange 
for right guidance : but their traffic hath not been profit- 
able ; and they have not been rightly guided. 

Their likeness is as the likeness of those who have kin- 
dled a fire in the dark, and when it hath enlightened what 
is around them, God taketh away their light and leaveth 
them in darkness, seeing not. 

Tlicy are deaf, dumb, blind : therefore they will not turn 
back. 

Or they are like people in a storm of rain from heaven, 
wherein are darkness and thunder and lightning : they put 
their fingers in their ears because of the vehement sounds 
of the thunder, for fear of death. And God encompassetli 
the unbelievers. 

The lightning almost snatcheth away their eyes : when- 
ever it shineth on them they wallc in the light of it, but 
when darkness cometh on them they stand still. And if 
God pleased He would certainly take away their ears and 
eyes: for God is all-powerful. (ii. 7-19.) 

LXXXV. 

ye who have believed, take not the Jews and Chris- 
tians as friends. They are friends one to another; and 
whosoever of you taketh them as his friends, verily he is 
of the number of them. 

ye who have believed, take not as friends those who 
have made your religion a laughing-stock and a jest, of 
those who have received the Scripture before you, and the 
unbelievers : (But fear God if ye be believers :) 

And those who when ye call to prayer make it a laugh- 
ing-stock and a jest. This they do because they are a 
people who do not understand. (v. $6, 62, 63.) 



BELIEITRS AXD UXBELIEVERS. 43 

LXXXVI. 

-{•The servants of the Merciful are they that walk upon 
the eai'th softly ; and when the ignorant speak unto them, 
they reply ' Peace ' ' — 

And they that pass the night woi-shipping their Lord, 
prostrate and standing ; — 

And that say, ' our Lord, turn away from us the tor- 
ment of Hell : verily its torment is endless ; verily it is an 
ill abode and resting-place !' — 

And those who when they spend are neither lavish nor 
niggard, but keep the mean ; — 

And those who call on no other gods with God, nor slay 
whom God hath forbidden to be slain, except for a just 
cause ; nor are unchaste ; — 

And they who bear not witness to a lie. and when they 
pass by vain discourse pass it by with dignity ; — 

These shall be rewarded with the highest Heaven, for 
that they persevered, and they shall be accosted therein 
with ' "Welcome and Peace,' to live therein for ever — a fair 
abode and resting-place ! (xxv. 64-75.) 



PART THE SECOND. 



PART THE SECOND. 



PROPHETS, APOSTLES, AXD DIVINE BOOKS} 

Say te, "We believe in God, and in that whicli liath been 
sent down unto us (namely, the Kur-uri), and what hath been 
sent down unto Abraham {the ten hooks), and Ishmael, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, his children, and whai 



' The namber of the prophets 
which have teen from time to time 
sent by God into the world amounts 
to no less than 224,000, according to 
one Mohammadan tradition, or to 
124,000 according to another; among 
whom 313 were apostles, sent with 
special commissions to reclaim man- 
kind from infidelity and superstition ; 
and six of them brought new laws or 
dispensations, which successively 
abrogated the preceding : these were 
Adam, Xoah, Abraham, Closes, Jesus, 
and Mohammad. All the prophets 
in general the iXohammadans be- 
lieve to have been free from great 
sins and errors of consequence, and 
professors of one and the same reli- 
gion, that is, El-Isldm, notwithstand- 
ing the different laws and institu- 
tions which they observed. In this 
great number of prophets, they not 
only reckon divers patriarchs and 
persons named in Scripture but not 
recorded to have been prophets 
(wherein the Jewish and Christian 
writers have sometimes led the way). 



as Adam, Seth, Lot, Ishmael, !Xun, 
Joshua, &c., and introduce some of 
them under different names, aa 
Enoch, Heber, and Jethro, who are 
called in the Kur-^n, Idrees, Hood, 
and Sho'eyb ; but several others 
whose very names do not appear in 
Scripture (though they endeavour to 
find some persons there to fix them 
on), as Silih, El-Khidr, Dhu-1-Kifl. 
As to the Scriptures, the !Mn- 
hammadaus are taught by the Kur- 
dn that God, in divers ages of the 
world, gave revelations of His will in 
writing to several prophets, the 
whole and every word of which it is 
absolutely necessary for a good ilus- 
lim to believe. The number of these 
sacred books was, according to them, 
104; of which ten were given to 
Adam, fifty to Sech, thirty to Idrees 
or Enoch, ten to Abraham ; and the 
other four, being the Pentateuch, 
the Psalms, the Gospel, and the 
Kur-dn, were successively delivered 
to Moses, David, Jesus, and Moham- 
mad ; which last being the seal of 



48 



SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 



Moses received {namely, the Pentateuch), and Jesus (namely, 
the Gospel), and what the prophets received from their Lord 
(namely, hooks and signs) : we make no separation of any of 
them, lelieving in some, and disbelieving in some, like the 
Jews and the Christians; and we resign ourselves unto 
Him. (ii. 130.) 



the prophets, those revelations are 
now closed and no more are to he 
expected. All these divine books, 
exeept the four last, they agree to be 
now entirely lost and their contents 
unknown ; though the Sabians have 
several books which they attribute 
to some of the antediluvian-prophets. 
And of those four, the Pentateuch, 



Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have 
undergone so many alterations and 
corruptions, that though there may 
possibly be some part of the true 
word of God therein, yet no credit 
is to be given to the present copies 
in the hands of the Jews and Ciiria- 
tians. — S. 



( 49 ) 



ADAM AND EVE. 

Bemember, Mohammad, when thy Lord said unto the 
angels, I am about to place in the earth a vicegerent to act 
for me in the execution of my ordinances therein, namely, 
Adam, — they said. Wilt Thou place in it one who will 
corrupt in it ly disobediences, and will shed blood {as did 
the sons of El-Jdnn} who were in it ; wherefore, when they 
acted corruptly, God sent to them the angels, who drove them 
away to the islands and the mountains), when we [on the 
contrary] celebrate the divine perfection, occupying ourselves 
with Thy praise, and extol Thy holiness ? Therefore we 
are more worthy of the vicegerency. — God replied, Verily, I 
know that which ye know not, as to the affair of appoint- 
ing Adam vicegerent, and that among his posterity vnll he 
the obedient and the rebellious, and the just will he manifest 
among them. And He created Adam from the surface of 
the earth, taking a handful of every colour that it comprised, 
which was kneaded with various waters ; and He completely 
formed it, and breathed into it the soul : so it became an ani- 
mated sentient being.^ And He taught Adam the names of 
all things, infusing the knowledge of them into his heart. 
Then He showed them (namely, the things) to the angels, 
and said, Declare unto me the names of these things, if ye 
say truth in your assertion that I will not create any more 
knowing than ye, and that ye are more worthy of the vice- 
gerency. They replied, [ JVe extol'] Thy perfection ! We have 

^ ' El-Jiinn ' is here used as a ^ According to a tradition of the 
name of Iblees, the father of the Prophet, the height of Adam waa 
jinn. It also signifies the jinn them- equal to that of a tall palm-tree. 



50 SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-An. 

no knowledge excepting what Thou hast tanght us ; for 
Thou art the Knowing, the "Wise. — God said, Adam, tell 
them their names. And when he had told them their 
names, God said. Did I not say unto you that I know the 
secrets of the heavens and the earth, and know what ye 
reveal of your words, saying, Wilt thou place in it, etc., and 
what ye did conceal of your words, saying, He will not 
create any more generous towards Him than we, nor any 
more knowing ? (ii. 28—31.) 

We created you ; that is, your father Adam : then we 
formed you ; we formed him, and you in him : then We said 
unto the angels, Prostrate yourselves unto Adam, hy way 
of salutation ; whereupon they prostrated themselves, ex- 
cept Ibices, the father of the jinn, who was amid the angels : 
he was not of those who prostrated themselves. God said, 
What hath hindered thee from prostrating thyself, when 
I commanded thee ? He answered, I am better than he : 
Thou hast created me of lire, and Thou hast created him 
of earth. [God] said, Then descend thou from it ; that is, 
from Paradise ; or, as some say, from the heavens ; for it is 
not fit for thee that thou behave thyself proudly therein : 
so go thou forth: verily thou [shalt be] of the con- 
temptible. He replied. Grant me respite until the day 
when they {that is, mankind) shall be raised from the dead. 
He said. Thou shalt be of those [who are] respited : and, 
in another verse [in xv. 38, it is said], until the day of the 
knovjn period ; that is, until the period of the first Mast [of 
the trumpet]. [And the devil] said, Now, as Thou hast 
led me into error, I will surely lay wait for them {that is, 
for the sons of Adam) in Thy right way, th£ way that 
Icadcth to Tliee : then I will surely come upon them, from 
before them, and from behind them, and from their right 
liands, and from their left, and hinder them from pursuing 
the way (hut, saith Ihn-'Abhds, he cannot come upon them 
above, lest he shoidd intervene between the servant and God's 
mercy), and Thou shalt not find the greater number of them 
grateful, or believing. [God] said, Go forth from it, de- 



ADAM AND EVE. 51 

spised and driven away from mercy. Whosoever of them 
{tJiat is, of mankind) shall follow thee, I will surely fill 
hell with you all ; with thee, and thy offspring, and with 
men. (vii. 10-17.) 

And we said, Adam, dwell thou and thy wife {Eowwd 
[or Eve], whom God created from a rib of his left side) iu 
the garden, and eat ye therefrom plentifully, wherever ye 
wiU. ; hut approach ye not this tree, to eat thereof; (and if 
was vjheat, or the grape-vine, or some other tree ;) for if ye 
do so, ye wiO. be of the number of the offenders. But the 
devil, Iblees, caused them to slip from it, that is, from the 
garden, by his saying unto them. Shall I show you the way to 
the tree of eternity ? And he swore to them by God that he 
was one of the faithful advisers to them : so they ate of it, 
and He ejected them from that state of delight in which 
they were. And We said, Descend ye 1 to the earth, ye two 
with the offspring that ye comprise [yet unborn], one of you 
{that is, of your offspring) an enemy to another; and there 
shall be for you, in the earth, a place of abode, and a pro- 
vision, of its vegetable produce, for a time, until the period 
of the expiration of your terms of life. And Adam learned, 
from his Lord, words, which were these : — Lord, we have 
acted unjustly to our own souls, and if Thou do not forgive 
us, and be merciful unto us, we shall SMrely be of those who 
suffer loss.^ And he prayed in these words ; and He became 
propitious towards him, accepting his repentance ; for He is 
the Very Propitious, the Merciful. We said. Descend ye 
from it {from the garden) altogether; and if there come 
unto you from Me a direction {a book and an apostle), those 



^ The Mohammadans say, that his repentance, conducted by the 

when they were cast down from angel Gabriel to a mountain near 

Paradise [which is in the seventh Mekkeh, where he found and knew 

heaven], Adam fell on the isle of his wife, the mountain being thence 

Ceylon, or Sarandeeb, and Kve near named 'Arafat ; and that he after- 

Juddah (the port of Mekkeh) in w,irdsretiredwith her to Ceylon. — S. 

Arabia ; and that, after a sepnratiou " The prayer is inserted by the 

of two hundred years, Adam was, on commentary from Kur. vii. 22. 



52 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

who follow my direction, there shall come no fear on them, 
nor shall they grieve in the world to come ; for tliey shall 
enter paradise : but they who disbelieve and accuse our 
signs ^ of falsehood, these shall be the companions of the 
fire: they shall remain therein for ever. (ii. 33-37.) 

1 This word has various signi- in particular ; and at other times, 

fications in the Kur-dn ; sometimes, visible miracles. But the sense is 

as in this passage, it signifies divine easily distinguished by the context. 

revelation^ or scripture in general ; — S. 
sometimes the verses ui the Kur-dn 



( 53 



ABEL AND CAIN. 

Eecite, Mohammad, unto tliem {that is, to thy people) the 
history of the two sons of Adam, namely, Abel and Cain} 
with truth. When they offered [their] offering to God"^ 
{Abel's being a ram, and Cain's being produce of the earth), 
and it was accepted from one of them {that is, from Abel ; 
for fire descended from heaven, and devoured his offering), 
and it was not accepted from the other, Gain was enraged ; 
but he concealed his envy until Adam performed a pilgrim- 
age, when he said unto his brother, I will assuredly slay 
thee. Abel said, Wherefore ? Cain answered. Because of 
the acceptance of thine offering to the exclusion of mine. 
Abel replied, God only accepteth from the pious. If thou 
stretch forth to me thy hand to slay me, I will not stretch 
forth to thee my hand to slay thee ; for I fear God, the 
Lord of the worlds. I desire that thou shouldst bear the 
sin [which thou intendest to commit] against me, by sla.y- 
ing me, and thy sin which thou hast committed before, and 

1 Called in Arabic Hdbeel and' cessarily marry their sisters, it 

Kdbeel. seemed reasonable to suppose they 

^ The occasion of their making ought to take those of the remoter 

this offering is thus related, accord- degree ;) but this Cain refusing to 

ing to the common tradition in the agree to, because his own sister was 

East. Each of them being bom with the handsomest, Adam ordered them 

a twin-sister, when they were grown to make their offerings to God, there- 

up, Adam by God's direction or- by referring the dispute to His de- 

dered Cain to marry Abel's twin- termination. The .commentators 

sister, and Abel to marry Cain's ; say Cain's offering was a sheaf of 

(for it being the common opinion the very worst of his com ; but 

that marriages ought not to be Abel's a fat lamb of the best of his 

had in the nearest degrees of flock. — S. 
consanguinity, since they must ne- 



54 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

thou wilt te of the companions of the fire. — And that 
is the recompense of the offenders. — But his soul suffered 
him to slay his brother : so he slew him ; and he became 
of [the number of] those who suffer loss. And lie knew not 
what to do with him ; for he was the first dead person upon 
the face of the earth of the sons of Adam. So he carried 
him upon his lack. And God sent a raven, which scratched 
up the earth unth its hill and its talons and raised it over a 
dead raven that was with it until it hid it, to show him 
how he should hide the corpse of his brother. He said, 
my disgrace! Am I unable to be like this raven, 
and to hide the corpse of my brother ? — And he became of 
[the number of] the repentant. And he digged [a grave] 
for him, and hid Mm. — On account of this which Cain did 
"We commanded the children of Israel that he who should 
slay a soul (not for the latter's having slain a soul or 
committed wickedness in the earth, such as infidelity/, or 
adultery, or intercepting the way, and the like) [should be 
regarded] as though he had slain all mankind; and he 
who saveth it alive, hy abstaining from slaying it, as though 
he had saved alive all mankind. (v. 30-35.) 



33 



NOAH AXD THE FLOOD. 

"We formerly sent Noah pSTooh] imto his people, saying, 
Yerily I am unto you a plain admonisher that ye •svorship 
not [any] but God. Yerily I fear for you, if ye worship 
any other, the punishment of an afliictive day in this world 
and in the world to come. — But the chiefs ■n"ho disbelieved 
among his people replied, We see thee not to be other than 
a man, like unto us ; and •n-e see not any to have followed 
thee except the meanest of us, as the weavers and the 
cobblers, at first thought (or rashly}, nor do -^e see you to 
have any excellence above us : nay, we imagine you to be 
liars in your claim to the apostolic commission. He said, 

my people, tell me, if I have an evident proof from my 
Lord and He hath bestowed on me mercy (the gift of 
prophecy) from Himself which is hidden from you, shall 
we compel you to receive it when ye are averse thereto ? 

We cannot do so. And, my people, I ask not of you 
any riches for it ; namely, for delivering my message. My 
reward is not due from any but God; and I will not drive 
away those who have believed as ye have coTnmanded me 
[because they are poor people]. Yerily they shall meet 
their Lord at the resurrection, and Ke will recompense them,, 
and will exact for them [reparation] fromn those who have 
treated them with injustice, and driven them away. But I 
see you [to be] a people who are ignorant of the end of your 
case. And, my people, who will defend me against God 
if I drive them away ? "Will ye not then consider ? And 

1 do not say unto you, I have the treasures of God ; nor 
[do I say], I know the things unseen ; nor do I say, Yerily 
I am an angel; nor do I say, of those whom your eyes 



S6 SELECTIONS FROM THE J<:UR-AN. 

contemn, God -will by no means besto-w on them good : 
(God best knoweth what is in their minds :) verily I 
should in that case be [one] of the offenders. — They re- 
plied, Noah, thou hast disputed with us and multiplied 
disputes with us: now bring upon us that punishment 
wherewith thou threatenest us, if thou be of those 
that speak truth. He said. Only God will bring it upon 
you, if He please to hasten it unto you; for it is His affair, 
not mine ; and ye shall not escape God : nor will my coun- 
sel profit you, if I desire to counsel you, if God desire to 
lead you into error. He is your Lord ; and unto Him shall 
ye be brought back. (xi. 27-36.) 

And it was said by revelation unto Noah, Verily there 
shalt not believe of thy people [any] but they who have 
already believed ; therefore be not grieved for that which 
they have done. (xi. 38.) 

And he vttered an imprecation upon them, saying, my 
Lord, leave not upon the earth any one of the unbelievers ; 
for if Thou leave them, they will lead Thy servants into 
error, and will not beget [any] but a wicked, ungrateful 
[offspring]. my Lord, forgive me and my parents {for 
they were believers), and whomsoever entereth my house 
{my abode, or my place of worship), being a believer, and 
the believing men, and the believing women, {to the day of 
resurrection^ and add not to the offenders [aught] save 
destruction. (Ixxi. 27-29.) 

And God answered his prayer, and said, Construct the 
ark in our sight and according to our revelation, and speak 
not unto Me concerning those who have offended, to beg Me 
not to destroy them ; for they [shall be] drowned. And he 
constructed the ark; and whenever a company of his 
people passed by him, they derided him. He said. If ye 
deride us, we will deride you, like as ye deride, lohen we 
are saved and ye are drowned, and ye shall know on whom 
shall come a punishment which shall render him vile, and 
whom shall befall a lasting punishment. [Thus he was 
employed] until when Our decree /or their destruction came 



NOAH AND THE FLOOD. 



57 



to pass, and the 'baker's oven overflowed with water^ {for 
this was a signal unto Noah), We said, Carry into it {that 
is, into the ark) of every pair, male and female, of each of 
tliese descriptions, two {and it is related that God assembled 
for Noah the wild beasts and the birds and other creatures, 
and he proceeded to put his hands upon each hind, and his 
right hand fell always upon the male, and his left upon, the 
female, and he carried them into the ark), and thy family 
(excepting him upon whom the sentence of destruction hath 
already been pronounced, namely, Noah's wife, and his son 
Canaan : but Shem and Ham and Japheth and their three 
wives h" tooTi), and those who have believed; but there 
beji<.fved not with him save a few : they were six men and 
i"\eir wives : and it is said that all who were in the ark were 
"eighty, half of whom were men and half women. And Noah 
said. Embark ye therein. In the name of God [be] its 
course and its mooring.^ Verily my Lord is very forgiving 



^ Or, as the original literally 
signifies, boiled over [or boiled], 
■which is consonant to what the 
Rabbins say, that the waters of the 
deluge were boiling hot. — This oven 
was, as some say, at El-Koofeh, in 
Jk,spot whereon a mosque now stands; 
or, ^s others rather think, in a cer- 
tain flace in India, or else at 'Eyn- 
el-Wardeh in Mesopotamia. Some 
pretend that it was the same oven 
which Eve made use of to bake her 
bread in, being of a form different 
from those we use, having the mouth 
in the upper part, and that it de- 
scended from patriarch to patriarch 
till it came to Noah. It is remark- 
able that Mohammad, in all proba- 
bility, borrowed this circumstance 
from the Persian Magi, who also 
fancied that the first waters of the 
deluge gushed out of the oven of a 
certain old woman named Zala CMa. 
— But the word " tennoor," which is 
here translated " oven," also signify- 



ing " the superficies of the earth," or 
"a placewhence waters spring forth," 
or "where they are collected," some 
suppose it means no more in this 
passage than the spot or fissure 
whence the first eruption of waters 
broke forth. — S. 

^ It is a custom of many Muslims 
to pronounce these words, 'In the 
name of God be its course and its 
mooring,' on embarking for any 
voyage. — L. The commentators tell 
us that Noah was two years in build- 
ing the ark, which was framed of 
Indian plane-tree ; that it was di- 
vided into three stories, of which 
the lower was designed for the 
beasts, the middle one for the men 
and women, and the upper for the 
birds ; and the men were separated 
from the women by the body of 
Adam, which Noah had taken into 
the ark. This last is a tradition of 
the Eastern Christians. — S. 



S8 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

[and] merciful. — And it moved along with them amid 
waves like mountains; and Noah called unto his son, 
Canaan, who was apart /rom the ark, my child, embark 
with us, and be not with the unbelievers ! He replied, I 
will betake me to a mountain which will secure me from 
the water. [Noah] said, There is nought that wiU secure 
to-day from the decree of God [any] but him on whom 
He hath mercy. And the waves intervened between them ; 
so he became [one] of the drowned. And it was said, 
earth, swallow up thy water {whereupon it dranlc it up, 
except what had descended from heaven, which became rivers 
and seas), and, heaven, cease from raining ; — and the 
water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and it (namely, 
the ark) rested on El-Joodee (a mountain of El-Jezeereh, 
near El-M6sil) ; and it was said. Perdition to the offending 
people ! 1 (xi. 38-46.) 

And ISToah called upon his Lord, and said, my Lord, 
verily my son is of my family, and Thou hast promised me 
to save them, and verily Thy promise is true, and Thou art 
the most just of those who exercise judgment. God re- 
plied, Noah, verily he is not of thy family who should 
le saved, or of the people of thy religion. Verily it (namely, 
thine asking me to save him) is not a righteous act ; for he 
was an unbeliever, and there is no safety for the unbelievers; 
therefore ask not of me that wherein thou hast no know- 
ledge. I admonish thee, lest thou become [one] of the 
ignorant. — Noah said, my Lord, I beg Thee to preserve 
me from asking Thee that wherein I have no knowledge ; 
and if Thou do not forgive me and have mercy upon me, I 
shall be of those who suffer loss. — It was said, Noah, 
descend /rom the ark,^ with peace from Us, and blessings, 

1 The original of this passage is tenth of Moharram ; which therefore 

considered the most sublime in the became a fast ; so that the whole 

Kur-^ii. time of Noah's being in the ark ao- 

'' The Mohammadaus say that cording to them was six months.— r 

Noah went into the ark on the tenth S. (B. ) 
gf Kejeb, and came out of it on tbe 



NOAH AND THE FLOOD. S9 

upon thee and upon peoples [that shall proceed] from 
those who are with thee in the arh (that is, their believing 
posterity) ; but peoples [that shall proceed] from those who 
are vnth thee We will permit to enjoy the provisions of this 
world ; then a painful punishment shall befall them from 
Us, in the world to come ; they tein^ unbelievers. 

(xi. 47-SO.) 



( t>o ') 



'AD AND THAMOOD. 

And we sent unto the former [tribe of] 'KA. ^ their brother 
Hood.2 He said, my people, ■worship God : assert His 
zinity. Ye have no other deity than Him. Will ye not 
then fear Rim, and believe ?— The chiefs who disbelieved 
among his people answered. Verily we see thee to be in a 
foolish way, and verily we esteem thee one of the liars 
with respect to the apostolic commission. He replied, my 
people, there is no folly in me ; but I am an apostle from 
the Lord of the worlds. I bring unto you the messages of 
my Lord, and I am unto you a counsellor, intrusted with 
the apostolic office. Do ye wonder that an admonition hath 
come unto you from your Lord by the tongue of a man from 
among you, that he may warn you ? And remember how 
He hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after the 
people of Noah, and increased you in tallness of stature. 
{For the tall among them was a hundred cubits, and the short 
among them sixty) Eemember, then, the benefits of God, 
that ye may prosper. They said. Art thou come unto 
us that we may worship God alone, and relinquish what 
our fathers worshipped ? Then bring upon us that punish- 
ment with which thou threatenest us, if thou be of those 
who speak truth. — He replied, Punishment and indigna- 

^ 'Ad was an ancient and potent for their sustenance, and the fourth 

tribe of Arabs, and zealous idolaters, restoring them to health when 

They chiefly worshipped four deities, afflicted with sickness ; according 

SiCkiyeh, H^fidhab, K£LZtkab, and to the signification of the several 

Sillimeb ; the first, as they imagined, names. — S. 

supplying them with rain, the second ' Generally supposed to be tha 

preserving them from all dangers same person as Heber. — S. 
abroad, the third providing food 



'AD AND THAMOOD. 6i 

tion from your Lord have become necessary for you. Do 
ye dispute with me concerning names which ye and your 
fathers have given to idols which ye worship, concerning 
which (that is, the worship of which) God hath not set down 
any convincing proof ? Then await ye the punishment. I 
am with you, of those who await that, for your accusing me 
of falsehood. And the unprofitabh wind was sent upon them. 
But We delivered him (namely, Hood) and them who were 
with him (of the believers) by Our mercy ; and We cut off 
the uppermost part of those who charged Our signs with 
falsehood and who were not believers. (vii. 63-70.) 

And We sent unto the tribe of Thamood ^ their brother 
Salih. He said, my people, worship God. Ye have no 
other deity than Him. A miraculous proof of my veracity 
hath come unto you from your Lord, this she-camel of God 
being a sign unto you. [He had caused her, at their de- 
mand, to come forth from the heart of a rock.] Therefore 
let her feed in God's earth, and do her no harm, lest a 
painful punishment seize you. And remember how He 
hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after [the tribe 
of] 'Ad, and given you a habitation in the earth : ye make 
yourselves, on its plains, pavUions wherein ye dwell in sum- 
m,er, and cut the mountains into houses wherein ye dwell in 
winter. Eemember then the benefits of God, and do not 
evil in the earth, acting corruptly. — The chiefs who were 
elated with pride, among his people, said unto those who 
were esteemed weak, namely, to those who had believed 
among them. Do ye know that §alih hath been sent unto 
you from his Lord ? They answered, Yea : verily we be- 
lieve in that wherewith he hath been sent. Those who 
were elated with pride replied. Verily we disbelieve in that 
wherein ye have believed. — And the she-camel had a day 
to water ; and they had a day ; and they became weary of 



1 Thamood was another tribe of country of the 'Adites, but their 
the ancient Arabs who fell into numbers increasing they removed 
idolatry. They dwelt first in the to the territory of Hejr. — S. 



62 



SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 



this. And they hamstrung the she-camel (Kuddr [the son 
of Salif] doiiij so by their order and slaying her with the 
sword) ; ^ and they impiously transgressed the command of 
their Lord,^ and said, Salih, bring upon us that punish- 
ment with which thou threatenest us for killing her, if thou 
be [one] of the apostles. And the violent convulsion (a 
great earthquake, and a cry from heaven"^) assailed thetti, 
and in the morning they were in their dwellings prostrate 
and dead. So he turned away from them, and said, my 
people, I have brought unto you the message of my Lord 
and given you faithful counsel ; but ye loved not faithful 
counsellors. (vii. 71-77.) 



^ This extraordinary camel fright- 
ing the other cattle from their pas- 
ture, a certain rich woman, named 
'Oneyzeh Umm-Ghfoim, having four 
daughters, dressed them out, and 
offered one Kuddr his choice of them, 
if he would kill the camel. Where- 
upon he choae one, and with the 
assistance of eight other men ham- 
strung and killed the dam, and pur- 
suing the young one which fled to 
the mountain, killed that also, and 
divided hia flesh among them. 
Others tell the story somewhat dif- 
ferently, adding Sadakah Bint-El- 
Mukhtdr as a joint - conapiratress 
with 'Oneyzeh, and pretending that 
the young one was not killed.' — S. 
{A.F., B.) 

^ Defying the vengeance with 
which they were threatened ; because 



they trusted in their strong dwellings 
hewn in the rocks, saying that the 
tribe of 'Ad perished only because 
their houses were not built with suf- 
ficient strength.— S. 

' 'Like violent and repeated 
claps of thunder ; which some say 
was no other than the voice of the 
angel Gabriel, which rent their 
hearts. It is said that after they had 
killed the camel, Silih told them that 
on the morrow their faces should be- 
come yellow, the next day red, and 
the third day black ; and that on the 
fourth God's vengeance should light 
on them : and that, the first three 
signs happening accordingly, they 
sought to put him to death ; but God 
delivered him by sending him into 
Palestine.— 3. (A.F., B.) 



( 63 ) 



DHU- L - KARNE YN. 

They {namdy, the Jews) will ask thee concerning Dhu-1- 
Karneyn.^ (His name was Hl-Iskender, and he was not a 
prophet.) Answer, I will recite unto you an account of 
him. We gave him. ability in the earth, h/ facilitating his 
Journeying therein, and gave him a way to attain every- 
thing thMt he regiiired. And he followed a way towards a 
■place where the sun setteth, until, when he came to the place 
where the sun setteth, he found that it set in a spring of 
black mud, as it appeared to the eye; hut really that spring was 
greater than the world ; and he found near it a people who 
were unbelievers.^ We said, hy inspiration, Dhu-1-Karneyn . 
either punish the people ly slaughter, or proceed against 
them gently, taking them captive. He said. As to him 
who offendeth by polytheism, we will punish him by 
slaughter : then he shall be taken back to his Lord, and He 
will punish him with a severe punishment, in the fire oj 

^ In the Mir-it-ez-Zemdn it is stated Abraham ; and this, adds the author, 

that there are various opinions re- is the most correct. — But some sup- 

specting the age in which this person pose him to be the same with Aiex- 

lived: I. That he lived in the first ander ths Great. — Respecting his 

century after the Deluge, and was of Burname of ' Dhu-1-Karneyn,' the 

the eons of Japheth, and was born in most obvious signification of which 

the land of the Greeks : so said 'Alee ; is ' the two-horned, ' the more judi- 

2. That he was after Thamood : so cious in general are of opinion that 

said El-Hasan ; 3. That he was of he received it because he made expe- 

the lineage of Esau, the son of Isaac : ditions to the extreme parts of the 

60 said Mukiitil ; 4. Tha.t he lived east and west, and therefore that it 

between the times of Moses and signifies ' Lord of the two extreme 

Jesus; 5. That he lived between parts of the earth. ' 

Jesus and Mohammad ; and 6. That ' Who were clothed in the skins 

he was of the lineage of Yooniin, sen of wild beasts, and lived upon what 

Tas some say] of Noah, in the days of the sea cast on shore. — S. (B.) 



64 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

hell. But as to him wlio believeth, and doeth that which 
is right, he shall have as a reward paradise, and We will 
say unto him, in Our command, that which loill he easy unto 
him. — Then he followed a way towards the place where the 
sun riseth, untO., when he came to the place where the sun 
riseth, he found that it rose upon a people (namely, the Zenj) 
unto whom We had not given anything wherewith to 
shelter themselves therefrom, neither clothing nor roof ; for 
their land hore no tuilding ; hut they had subterranean 
dwellings, into which they retired at sunrise, and they came 
forth when the sun was high. Thus was the case ; and We 
comprehended with Our knowledge what were with him 
(namely, Dhu-l-Karneyn), of weapons and forces and other 
things. — Then he followed a way until, when he came 
between the two barriers (or mountains, at the confines of 
the country of the Turks, between which is the barrier of El- 
Iskender, as will be related presently), he found before them 
a people who could scarce understand speech. They said, 
Dhu-l-Karneyn, verily Yajooj and Majooj [Gog and Ma- 
gog ^] are corrupting in the earth, by plunder and tyranny, 
when they came forth unto us. Shall we therefore pay thee 
tribute, on the condition that thou make a barrier between 
us and them ? — He answered. The ability which my Lord 
hath given me, by wealth and other things, is better than 
your tribute, which I need not. I will make the harrier for 
you gratuitously : but assist me strenuously by doing that 
which I desire : I wiU. make between you and them a strong 
barrier. Bring me pieces of iron of the size of the blocks of 
stone used in building. — And he built with them, and placed 
amid them firewood and charcoal, until, when it [the mass] 



' The Arabs call them Yajooj Strabo. — It is said these barbarous 

and MEtjooj, and say they are two people made their irruptions into the 

nations or tribes descended from neighbouring countries in the spring, 

Japheth the son of Noah; or, as and destroyed and carried off all the 

others write, Gog are a tribe of the fruits of the earth ; and some pre- 

Turks, and Magog of those of Geeldn, tend they were man-eaters. — S. (B.) 
the Oeli and Gelae of Ptolemy and 



DHU-L-KARNEYN. 65 

filled up the space between the upper parts of the two 
mountains, and he, had put the bellows and fire around that 
mass, he said, Blow ye [with the bellows]. So they blew 
until, when he had made it (that is, the iron) like fire, he 
said. Bring me molten brass, that I may pour upon it. 
And he poured the molten brass upon the heated iron, so that 
it entered between its pieces and the whole became one mass. 
And they {namely, Ydjooj and Mdjooj) were not able to 
ascend to its top by reason of its height and smoothness; 
nor were they able to perforate it by reason of its hardness 
and thickness. Dhu-l-Karneyn said, This (namely, the 
barrier, or the gift of the ability to construct it) is a mercy 
from my Lord : but when the promise of my Lord, as to the 
eruption of Ydjooj and Mdjooj shortly before the resurrection, 
shall come to be fulfilled, He will reduce it {namely, the 
harrier) to dust ; and the promise of my Lord concerning 
their eruption and other events is true. And We will suffer 
some of them, on that day (the day of their eruption), to 
pour tumultuously among others : and the trumpet shall be 
blown /or the resurrection, and We will gather them {namely, 
all creatures) together in a body, in one place. And We 
will set hell, on that day, near before the unbelievers, 
whose eyes have been veiled from my admonition {the 
Kur-dn), and who, being blind, have not been directed by it, 
and who could not hear what the prophet recited unto them, 
by reason qf their hatred of him ; wherefore they believed not 
in him. (xviii. 82-101.) 



( 66 ) 



ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC. 

Bememher when Abraham [Ibraheem] said to his father 
A'zar (this was the surname of Terdh), Dost thou take 
images as deities ? i Verily I see thee and thy people to 
be in a manifest error. — (And thus, as We showed him the 
error of his father and his fecyple, did We show Abraham 
the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and [We did so] 
that he might be of [the number of] those who firmly 
believe.) And when the night overshadowed him, he saw 
a star {i,t is said that it was Venus), [and] he said unto his 
people, who were astrologers, This is my Lord, according to 
your assertion. — But when it set, he said, I like not those 
that set, to fake them as Lords, since it is not meet for a Lord 
to experience alteration and change of place, as they are of 
the nature of accidents. Yet this had no effect upon them. 
And when he saw the moon rising, he said unto them. This 
is my Lord. — But when it set, he said. Verily if my Lord 
direct me not (if He confirm me inot in the right way), I 
shall assuredly be of the erring people. — This was a 
hint to his people that they were in error ; hid it had no 
effect upon them. And when he saw the sun rising, he said, 
This is my Lord. This is greater than the star and the 
moon. — But when it set, and the proof had heen rendered 
more strong to them, yet they desisted not, he said, my 



^ The Eastern authors unani- ment was a very honourable one, 

mously agree that he (Azar) was a and that he was a great lord and 

statuary, or carver of idols ; and he in high favour with Nimrod, whose 

is represented a^ the first who made son-in-law he was, because he made 

images of clay, pictures only having his idols for him and was excellent 

been in use before, and taught that in his art. Some of the Kabbins 

they were to be adored as gods, say Terah was a priest and chief of 

However, we are told his employ- the order. — S. 



ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC. 67 

people, verily I am clear of tlie [things] which ye associate 
with Ood ; namely, the images and the heavenly bodies. So 
they said unto him. What dost thou worship ? He answered, 
Verily I direct my face unto Him who hath created the 
heavens and the earth, following the right religion, and I 
am not of the polytheists. — And his people argued with 
him ; [but] he said, Do ye argue with me respecting God, 
when He hath directed me, and I fear not what ye 
associate with Him, unless my Lord will that aught dis- 
pleasing should befall me ? My Lord comprehendeth every- 
thing by His knowledge. WHl ye not therefore consider ? 
And wherefore should I fear what ye have associated with 
God, when ye fear not for your having associated with God 
that of which He hath not sent down unto you a proof ? 
Then which of the two parties is the more worthy of 
safety ? Are we, or you ? If ye know wJio is the more 
worthy of it, follow him. — God saith. They who have 
believed, and not mixed their belief with injustice {that is, 
polytheism), for these shall be safety fro7n punishment, and 
they are rightly directed. (vi. 74-82.) 

Eelate unto them, in the book (that is, the Kurdn), the 
history of Abraham. Verily he was a person of great 
veracity, a prophet. When he said unto his father A'zar, 
who worshipped idols, my father, wherefore dost thou 
worship that which heareth not, nor seeth, nor avertetli 
from thee aught, whether of advantage or of injury ? 
my father, verily [a degree] of knowledge hath come unto 
me, that hath not come unto thee : therefore follow me : 
I will direct thee into a right way. my father, serve not 
the devil, by obeying him in serving idols ; for the devil is 
very rebellious unto the Compassionate. my father, 
verily I fear that a punishment will betide thee from the 
Compassionate, if thou repent not, and that thou wilt be 
unto the devil an aider, and a companion in hell-fire. — He 
replied. Art thou a rejector of my Gods, Abraham, and 
dost thou revile them ? If thou abstain not, I will assuredly 
assail thee with stones or with ill words ; therefore beware 0I 



68 SELECTIONS FROM THE J^UR-AN. 

■me, and leave me for a long time. — Abraham said. Peace 
from me be on thee ! I will ask pardon for thee of my 
Lord; for He is gracious unto me: and I will separate 
myself from you and from what ye invoke instead of God ; 
and I will call upon my Lord : perhaps I shall not be un- 
successful in calling upon my Lord, as ye are in calling 
upon idols. — And when he had separated himself from 
them, and from what they worshipped instead of God, hy 
going to the Holy Land, We gave him two sons, that he might 
cheer himself thereby, namely, Isaac and Jacob ; and each [of 
them] We made a prophet ; and We bestowed upon them 
{namely, the three), of our mercy, wealth and children; and 
We caused them to receive high commendation. 

(xix. 42-51.) 
We gave unto Abraham his direction formerly, before he 
had attained to manhood ; and We knew him to be worthy 
of it. When he said unto his father and his people. What 
are these images, to the worship of which ye are devoted ? 
— they answered, We found our fathers worshipping them, 
and we have followed their example. He said unto them. 
Verily ye and your fathers have been in a manifest error. 
They said. Hast thou come unto us with ti'uth in saying 
this, or art thou of those who jest ? He answered, 
Nay, your Lord {the being %vho deserveth to be worshipped) 
is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created 
them, not after the similitude of anything pre-existing ; and 
I am of those who bear witness thereof. And, by God, 
I will assuredly devise a plot against your idols after 
ye shall have retired, turning your backs. — So, after they 
had gone to their place of assembly, on a day when they held 
a festivcd, he brake them in pieces with an axe, except the 
chief of them, ttpon whose neck he hung the axe ; that they 
might return unto it {namely, the chief) and see what he 
had done ivith the others. They said, after they had 
returned and seen what he had done, Who hath done this 
unto our gods? Verily he is of the unjust. — And 
some of them said, We heard a young man mention them 



ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC. 69 

reproachfully: he is called Abraham. They said, Then 
bring him before the eyes of the people, that they may 
bear witness against him of his having done it. They said 
unto him, when he had been brought, Hast thou done this 
nnto our gods, Abraham ? He answered, Nay, this 
their chief did it : and ask ye them, if they [can] speak. 
And they returned unto themselves, upon reflection, and 
said unto themselves, Verily ye are the unjust, in worship- 
ping that which speaketh not. Then they reverted to their 
obstinacy, and said, Verily thou knowest that these speak 
not: then wherefore dost thou order us to ask them? He 
said, Do ye then worship, instead of God, that which doth 
not profit you at all, nor injure you if ye worship it not ? 
Fy on you, and on that which ye worship instead of God ! 
Do ye not then understand? — They said, Burn ye him, 
and avenge your gods, if ye will do so. So they collected 
abundance of firewood for him, and set fire to it ; and they 
bound Abraham, and put him into an engine, and cast him 
into the fire. But, saith God, We said, fire, be thou cold, 
and a security unto Abraham ! So nought of him was 
burned save his bonds : the heat of the fire ceased, but its 
light remained ; and by God's saying, Security, — Abraham 
was saved from dying, by reason of its cold. And they 
intended against him a plot ; but he caused them to be 
the sufferers. ^ And "We delivered him and Lot, the son of 



1 Some tell us that Nimroil, on monstrous birds ; but after wauder- 

Beelng this miraculous deliverance ing for some time through the air, 

from his palace, cried out that he he fell down on a mountain witli 

would make an offering to the God such force that he made it shake, 

of Abraham ; and that he accord- whereto (as some fancy) a passage 

ingly sacrificed four thousand kine. in the Kur-dn [xiv. 47] alludes, 

[B.] But, if he ever relented, he which may be translated, ' although 

soon relapsed into his former infidel- their contrivances be such as to 

ity : for he built a tower that he make the mountains tremble.' — 

might ascend to heaven to see Nimrod, disappointed in his design 

Abraham's God ; which being over- of making war with God, turned his 

thrown [Kur. xvi. 28], still persist- arms against Abraham, who, being 

ing in his design, he would be carried a great prince, raised forces to de- 

to heaven in a chest borne by four fend himself ; but God, dividing 



70 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

Ms brother Haran, from M-'Srdk, [bringing them] unto 
the land which we blessed for the peoples, hy the abund- 
ance of its rivers and trees, namely, Syria. Abraham took 
up his abode in Palestine, and Lot in El-Mv,-tekifeh, between 
which is a day's journey. And when Abraham had asked a 
son, "VVe gave unto him Isaac, and Jacob as an additional 
gift, beyond what he had asked, being a son's son ; and all of 
them We made righteous persons and prophets. And We 
made them models of religion who directed men by Our 
command unto Our religion; and We commanded them 
by inspiration to do good works and to perform prayer 
and to give the appointed alms ; and they served Us. And 
unto Lot We gave judgment and knowledge ; and We de- 
livered him from the city which committed filthy actions ; 
for they were a people of evil, shameful doers ; and We. 
admitted him into our mercy ; for he was [one] of the 
righteous. (xxi. 52-75.) 

Hast thou not considered him who disputed with Abra- 
ham concerning his Lord, because God had given him the 
kingdom? And he was Nimrod. When Abraham said, 
(upon his saying unto him, Who is thy Lord, unto whom 
thou invitest us?). My Lord is He who giveth life and 
causeth to die, — he replied, I give life and cause to die. 
■ — And he summoned two men, and 'slew one of them, and 
left the other. So when he saiu that he imder stood not, 
Abraham said, And verily God bringeth the sun from the 
east : now do thou bring it from the west. — And he who 



Nimrod's Bubjects, and confound- he was obliged to cause his head to 

ing their language, deprived him of be beaten with a mallet, in order to 

the greater part of his people, and procure some ease, which torture he 

plagued those who adhered to him sulBFered four hundred years ; God 

by swarms of gnats, which destroyed being willing to punish, by one o£ 

almost all of them ; and one of those the smallest of His creatures, him 

gnats having entered into the nostril, who insolently boasted himself to 

or ear, of Nimrod, penetrated to be lord of all. A Syrian calendar 

one of the membranes of his brain, places the death of Nimrod, as if 

wliere, growing bigger every day, it the time were well known, on the 

gave him such intolerable pain, that eighth of Tamooz, or July. — S. 



ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC. 71 

disbelieved was confounded; and God directetli not the 
offending people. (ii. 260.) 

And Our messengers came formerly unto Abraham with 
good tidings of Isaac and Jacob, who should he after him. 
They said, Peace. He replied, Peace he on you. And he 
tarried not, but brought a roasted calf. And when he saw 
that their bauds touched it not, he disliked them and 
conceived a fear of them. They said, Fear not : for we 
are sent unto the people of Lot, that we may destroy them. 
And his wife Sarah was standing serving them, and she 
laughed, rejoicing at the tidings of their destruction. And 
we gave her good . tidings of Isaac [Ishak] ; and after 
Isaac, Jacob [Yaakoob]. She said, Alas ! shall I bear a 
child when I am an old woman, of nine and ninety years, 
and when this my husband is an old man, of a hundred 
or a hundred and twenty years ? Verily this [would be] 
a wonderful thing. — They said. Dost thou wonder at the 
command of God? The mercy of God and His bless- 
ings be on you, people of the house {of Abraham) ! 
for He is praiseworthy, glorious. — And when the terror 
had departed from Abraham, and the good tidings had 
come unto him, he disputed with Us {that is, with Our 
messengers) respecting the people of Lot ; for Abraham 
was gentle, compassionate, repentant. And he said unto 
them. Will ye destroy a city wherein are three hundred 
believers? They answered. No. He said. And will ye de- 
stroy a city wherein are two hundred believers ? They 
answered. No. Se said, And will ye destroy a city wherein 
are forty believers ? They answered, No. He said, And 
will ye destroy a city wherein are fourteen believers ? They 
answered. No. Se said. And tell me, if there be in it one 
believer ? Tliey answered, No. He said, Verily in it is Lot. 
They replied. We know best who is in it. And when their 
dispute had become tedious, they said, Abraham, abstain 
from this disputation ; for the command of thy Lord hath 
come for their destruction, and a punishment not [to be] 
averted is coming upon them. (xi. 72-78.) 



72 SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-AN. 

And when Our decree for fhe, destruction of the people of 
Lot came [to be executed], We turned them {that is, their 
cities) upside-down ; for Gabriel raised them to heaven, and 
let them fall upside-dovm to the earth ; ^ and We rained 
upon them stones of baked clay, sent one after another, 
marked with thy Lord, each with the name of him upon 
whom it should he cast : and they [are] not far distant from 
the offenders ; tliat is, the stones are not, or the cities of the 
people of Lot were not, far distant from the people of 
MeMceh. (xi. 84.) 

And [Abraham] said [after his escape from N'imrod], 
Verily I am going unto my Lord, who will direct me unto 
the place whither He hath commanded me to go, namely, Syria. 
And when he had arrived at the Holy Land, he said, my 
Lord, give me a son [who shall be one] of the righteous. 
Whereupon We gave him the glad tidings of a mild youth. 
And when he had attained to the age when he could work 
with him {as some say, seven years ; and some, thirteen), he 
said, my child, verily I have seen in a dream that I should 
sacrifice thee {and the dreams of prophets are true ; and 
their actions, ly the command of God) ; therefore consider 
what thou seest advisable /or me to do. He replied, my 
father, do what thou art commanded : thou shalt find me, if 
God please, [of the number] of the patient. And when 
they had resigned themselves, and he had laid him down 
on his temple, in [the valley of] Mind, and had drawn the 
knife across his throat {hut it produced no effect, hy reason of 
an obstacle interposed by the divine power). We called unto 
him, Abraham, thou hast verified the vision. Verily 
thus do We reward the well-doers. Verily this was the 
manifest trial. And We ransomed him whom he had been 
commanded to sacrifice {and he was Ishmael [Isma'eel] or 
Isaac ; for there are two opinions)'^ with an excellent victim, 

^ They tell us that Gabriel thrust ing of the cocks ; and then, invert- 

his wing under them and lifted ing them, threw them down to the 

them up BO high that the inhabi- earth. — S. (B.) 

tants of the lower heaven heard the " It is the most received opinion 

barking of the dogs and the crow- among the Mohammadana that the 



ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC. 73 

a ram from, Paradise, the same that Ahel had offered : 
Gabriel (on whom he peace !) brought it, and the lord Abra- 
ham sacrificed it, saying, God is most great ! And We left 
this salutation [to be bestowed] on him by the latter 
generations, Peace [be] on Abraham ! Thus do We reward 
the well-doers : for he was of our believing servants. 

(xxxvii. 97-1 1 1.) 

Remember when Abraham said, my Lord, show me 
how Thou wUl raise to life the dead.^ — He said. Hast thou 
not believed ? He answered, Yea : but / have ashed Thee 
that my heart may be at ease. He replied. Then take 
four birds and draw them towards thee, and cut them in 
pieces and mingle together their flesh and their feathers; 
then place upon each mountain of thy land a portion of 
them, then call them unto thee : they shall come unto 
thee quickly : and know thou that God is mighty [and] 
wise. — And he tooTc a peacock and a mdture and a raven 
and a cock, and did with them as hath been described, and 
kept their heads with him, and called them ; whereupon the 
portions flevj about, one to another, until they became com- 
plete : then they came to their heads. (ii. 262.) 

Remember when his Lord had tried Abraham by 
[certain] words, commands and prohibitions, and he ful- 

Bon whom Abraham offered was obtained his desire in both respects, 

Ishmael and not Isaac ; Ishmael he oast lots on his sons, and the lot 

being his only son at that time : for falling on 'Abd-AUah, he redeemed 

the promise of Isaac's birth is men- him by offering a hundred camels, 

tioned lower, as subsequent in time which was therefore ordered to be 

to this transaction. They also allege the price of a man's blood in the 

the testimony of their prophet, who Sunneh. — S. (B., Z.) 
is reported to have said, ' I am the ' The occasion of this request of 

son of the two who were offered in Abraham is said to have been a 

sacrifice;' meaning his great ancestor, doubt proposed to him by the devil 

Ishmael, and his own father 'Abd- in human form, how it was possible 

Allah : for 'Abd-el-Muttalib had for the several parts of a corpse of a 

made a vow that if God would per- man which lay on the sea-shore and 

mit him to find out and open the had been partly devoured by the 

well Zemzem and should give him wild beasts, the birds, and the fish, 

ten sons he would sacrifice one of to be brought together at the resur- 

them ; accordingly, when he had rection. — S 



74 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

filled them, GodL said unto him, I constitute thee a model 
of religion unto men. He replied, And of my offspring 
constitute models of religion. [God] said, My covenant 
doth not apply to the offenders, the unbelievers among them. 
— And when We appointed the house (that is, the Kaabeh) 
to be a place for the resort of men, and a place of security 
(« 7nan would meet the slayer of his father there and he 
would not provoke him [to revenge],) and [said], Take, 
men, the station of Abraham {the stone upon which he stood 
at the time of luilding the House) as a place of prayer, 
that ye may perform behind it the prayers of the two rek'ahs ^ 
[which are ordained to be performed after the ceremony] 
of the circuiting [of the Kaabeh]. — And "We commanded 
Abraham and Ishmael, [saying]. Purify my House {rid it of 
the idols) for those who shall compass [it], and those who 
shall abide there, and those who shall bow down and pro- 
strate themselves. — And when Abraham said, my Lord, 
malce this plcLce a secure territory {and God hath answered 
his prayer, and made it a sacred place, wherein the blood of 
man is not shed, nor is any one oppressed in it, nor is its 
game hunted [or shot], nor are its plants cut or pulled up), 
and supply its inhabitants with fruits {which hath been 
done by the transporting of Et-T&if from Syria thither, when 
it [that is, the territory of Mekkeh] was desert, ivithout sown 
land or water ^ such of them as shall believe in God and 

1 In the original, ' Imdm, ' which part in other postures: an inclina- 

answers to the Latin Antiates. This tion of the head and body, followed 

title the Mohammadans give to by two prostrations, distinguishing 

their priests [if such a title may be each rek'ah. Each of the five daily 

used, for want of one more correct] prayers of the Muslims consist of a 

who begin the prayers in their certain number of rek'ahs. 
mosques, and whom all the congre- ' The city of Et-Tdif was so called, 

gation follow. — S. according to Abu-I-Fida and several 

^ The term ' rek'ah ' signifies the other Arab authors, because it, with 

repetition of a set form of words, the adjacent fields, was separated 

chiefly from the Kur-iin, and ejacula- from Syria during the Deluge, and 

tions of ' God is most Great ! ' etc., after floating round about upon the 

accompanied by particular postures; water at length rested in its present 

part of the words being repeated in situation, where its soil has oon- 

au erect posture, part sitting, and tinned to produce the fruits of Syria. 



ABRAHAM, ISHMAEL, ISAAC. 7; 

the last day. — He, mentioned them peculiarly in the prayer 
agreeably with the saying of God, My covenant doth iiot 
apply to the offenders. — God replied, And / will supply him 
who disbelieveth : I will make him to enjoy a supply of 
food in this world, a little while : then I will force him, in 
the world to come, to the punishment of the fire ; and evil 
shall be the transit. (ii. 11 8- 120.) 

And remember when Abraham was raising the founda- 
tions of the House ^ (that is, building it), together with 
Ishmael, and they said, our Lord, accept of us our build- 
ing ; for Thou art the Hearer of what is said, the Knower 
of what is done. our Lord, also make us resigned ^ unto 
Thee, and make from among our offspring a people resigned 
unto Thee, and show us our rites (the ordinances of our 
worship, or our pilgrimage), and be propitious towards 
us ; for Thou art the Very Propitious, the Merci- 
ful. {They begged Him to be propitious to them, notunth- 
standing their honesty, from a motive of humility, and by 
way of instruction to their offspring?) our Lord, also send 
unto them {that is, the people of the House) an apostle from 
among them {and God hath answered their prayer by send- 
ing Mohammad), who shall recite unto them Thy signs {the 
Ifur-dn), and sliall teach them the book {the Kur-dn), and 
the knowledge that it containeth, and shall purify them 
from polytheism; for Thou art the Mighty, the Wise. — 
And who will be averse from the religion of Abraham but 
he who maketh his soul foolish, who is ignorant that it is 
God's creation, and that the worship of Him is incumbent on 
it ; or who lightly esteemeth it and applieth it to vile pur- 
poses ; when We have chosen him in this world cos an 
apostle and a friend, and he shall be in the world to come 
one of the righteous for whom are high ranks ? — And 

* Namely, the Kaaoeh. and as he professed not to teach a 

2 In the original, 'Muslims,' religion essentially new, this title ia 

which is the peculiar and very given to all true believers before 

appropriate title of the believers in him. 

the religion taught by Mohammad ; 



76 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

rememlcr when his lord said unto him, Resign thyself : — 
he replied, I resign myself unto the Lord of the worlds. — 
And Abraham commanded his children to follow it {namely, 
the religion); and Jacob, his children; saying, my 
children, verily God hath chosen for you the religion of 
El-IsUvm ; ^ therefore die not without your being Muslims. 
— It was a prohibition from abandoning M-Isldm and a 
command to persevere therein unto death. (ii. 121-126.) 

When the Jews said, Abraham was a Jew, and we are of 
his religion, — and the Christians said the like, [the follow- 
ing] was revealed : — people of the Scripture, wherefore 
do ye argue respecting Abraham, asserting that he was of 
your religion, when the Pentateuch and the Gospel were 
not sent down but after him a long time ? Do ye not then 
understand the falsity of your saying ? So ye, people, 
have argued respecting that of which ye have knowledge, 
concerning Moses and Jesus, and have asserted that ye are of 
their religion : then wherefore do ye argue respecting that 
of which ye have no knowledge, concerning Abraham? 
But God knoweth his case, and ye know it not. Abraham 
was not a Jew nor a Christian : but he was orthodox, a 
Muslim [or one resigned], a unitarian, aud he was not of 
the polytheists. (iii. 58-60.) 

^ ' El-Iekm ' signifies the resign- all the prophets before him had 

inj oneself to God and to His service, taught, and he restored; the 

and is the name given by Mohammad foundation of which was the unity 

to that religion which, he asserted, of God, 



( n ) 



JACOB, JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN. 

Remember, when Joseph [Yoosuf] said unto his father, 
O my father, verily I saw in sleep eleven stars and the 
sun and the moon : I saw them making obeisance unto me. 
He replied, my child, relate not thy vision to thy 
brethren, lest they contrive a plot against thee, knomng 
its interpretation to he that they are the stars and that the 
sun is thy mother and the moon thy father ; for the devil is 
unto man a manifest enemy. And thus, as thou sawest, thy 
Lord will choose thee, and teach thee the interpretation of 
events, or dreams, and will accomplish his favour upon 
thee hy the gift of prophecy, and upon the family of Jacob, 
as He accomplished it upon thy fathers before, Abraham 
and Isaac ; for thy Lord is knowing [and] wise. — Verily in 
the history of Joseph and his brethren are signs to the 
inquirers. — When they {the brethren of Joseph) said, one to 
another. Verily Joseph and his brother Benjamin are dearer 
uuto our father than we, and we are a number of men ; 
verily our father is in a manifest error ; slay ye Joseph, or 
drive him away into a distant land ; so the face of your 
father shall be directed alone unto you, regarding no other, 
and ye shall be after it a just people : — a speaker among 
them, namely, Judah, said. Slay not Joseph, but throw 
him to the b6ttom of the well ; then some of the travellers 
may light upon him, if ye do this. And they were satisfied 
iheremth. They said, O our father, wherefore dost thou 
not intrust us with Joseph, when verily we are faithful 
unto him ? Send him with us to-morrow into the plain, 
that he may divert himself and sport ; and we will surely 
take care of him. — He replied. Verily your taking him 



78 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

away will grieve me, and I fear lest the wolf devour him 
while ye are heedless of him. They said, Surely if the 
wolf devour him, when we are a number of men, we shall 
in that case be indeed weak. So he sent Mm with them. 
And when they went away with him, and agreed to put 
him at the bottom of the well, they did so} They pulled 
off his shirt, after they had beaten him and had treated him 
with contempt and had desired to slay him ; and they let 
him down ; and when he had arrived half-way down the well 
they let him fall, that he might die ; and he fell into the water. 
He then heiooJc himself to a mass of rocJc ; and they called to 
him ; so he answered them, imagining that they would have 
mercy upon him. Tliey however desired to crush him with a 
piece of rock ; hut Judah prevented them. And We said 
unto him by revelation, while he was in the well (and he 
was seventeen years of age, or less), to quiet his heart. Thou 
shalt assuredly declare unto them this their action, and 
they shall not know thee at the time? And they came 
to their father at nightfall weeping. They said, our 
father, we went to run races,^ and left Joseph with our 
clothes, and the wolf devoured him ; and thou wilt not 



^ This well, say some, was a cer- that the eleven stars and the sun and 

tain well near Jerusalem, or not far the moon might clothe him and keep 

from the river Jordan ; but others him company. — S. (B., Z.) 

call it the well of Mgypt, or Midian. ^ The commentators pretend that 

The commentators tell us that when Gabriel also clothed him in the well 

the sons of Jacob had gotten Joseph with a garment of Silk of Paradise, 

with them in the field, they began to For they say that when Abraham was 

abuse and to beat him so unmerci- thrown into the fire by !N"imrod, he 

fully that they had killed him had was stripped ; and that Gabriel 

not Judah on his crying out for help brought him this garment and put it 

insisted on the promise they had on him ; and that from Abraham it 

made not to kill him but to cast him descended to Jacob, who folded it up 

into the well. AVhereupon they let and put it into an amulet, which he 

him down a little way ; but as he hung about Joseph's neck, whence 

held by the sides of the well, they Gabriel drew it out. — S. (B., Z.) 

bound him, and took off his inner ' These races they used by way 

garment, designing to stain it with of exercise ; and the commentators 

blood to deceive their father. Joseph generally understand here that kind 

begged hard to have his garment of race wherein they also showed their 

returned to him, but to no purpose, dexterity in throwing darts, which is 

his'brothers telling him, with a sneer, still used in the East. — S. 



JACOB, JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN. 79 

believe us, though we speak truth. And they brought 
false blood upon his shirt. Jacob said unto them, N"ay, your 
minds have made a thing seem pleasant unto you, and ye 
have done it; ^ but patience is seemly, and God's assistance 
is implored with respect to that which ye relate. 

And travellers came on their way from Midian {Medyen) 
to Egypt, and alighted near the loell ; ^ and they sent their 
drawer of water,^ and he let down his bucket into the well : 
so Joseph caught hold upon it,- and the man drew him forth ; 
and when he saw him, he said, good news ! This is a 
young man ! — And his irethren thereupon knew his case ; 
wherefore they came unto him, and they * concealed his case, 
making him as a piece of merchandise ; for they said. He is 
mcr slave who hath absconded. And Joseph was silent, fear- 
ing lest they should slay him. And God knew that which 
they did. And they sold him for a mean price, [for] some 
dirhems counted down, twenty, or two-and-twenty ; and 
they were indifferent to him. The travellers then brought 
him to Egypt, and he who had bought him sold him for twenty 
deendrs and a pair of shoes and two garments. And the 
Egyptian who bought him, namely, Kitfeer,^ said unto his 
wife Zeleekha, Treat him hospitably ; perad venture he may 

^ This Jacob had reason to sua- they might keep him to themselves ; 

pect, because when the garment was pretending that some people of the 

brought to him, he observed that, place had given him to them to sell 

though it was bloody, yet it was not for them in Egypt. And they who 

torn. — S. (B.) prefer the latter opinion tell us that 

2 Three days after Joseph had been Judah carried victuals to Joseph every 

thrown into it. — S. day while he was in the well ; but 

^ The commentators are so exact not finding him there on the fourth 

as to give us the name of this man, day, he acquainted his brothers with 

who as they pretend, was M^lik Ibn- it : whereupon they all went to the 

Doar, of the tribe of Khuz4'ah. — S. caravan and claimed Joseph as their 

(B.) slave, he not daring to discover that 

* The expositors are not agreed be was their brother, lest something 

whether the pronoun they relates to worse should befall him ; and at 

M^lik and his companions, or to length they agreed to sell him to 

Joseph's brethren. They who espouse them. — S. (B.) 

the former opinion say that those ^ ^ corruption of Potiphar. He 

who came to draw water concealed was a man of great consideration, 

the manner of their coming by him being superintendent of the royal 

from the rest of the caravan, tliat treasury.— S. (B.) 



8o SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

be advantageous to us, or -we may adopt him as a son. 
For he was childless. And thus "We prepared an establish- 
ment for Joseph in the land of Egypt, to teach him the 
interpretation of events, or dreams; for God is well able 
to effect His purpose; but the greater number of men, 
namely, the unbelievers, knovsr not this. And when he had 
attained his age of strength (thirty years, or three-and- 
thirty), We bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge in 
matters of religion, before he was sent as a prophet ; for thus 
do We recompense the well-doers, (xii. 4-22. — Then follows 
an account of his temptation by his mistress, Zeleekha.) 

Then it seemed good unto them,^ after they had seen 
the signs of his innocence, to imprison him. They wiU 
assuredly imprison him for a time, until the talk of the people 
respecting him cease. So they imprisoned him. And there 
entered with him into the prison two young men, servants 
of the king, one of whom was his cup-hearer and the other 
was his victualler. And they found that he interpreted 
dreams ; wherefore one of them, namely, the cup-bearer, said, 
I dreamed that I was pressing grapes : and the other said, 
I dreamed that I was carrying upon my head some bread, 
whereof the birds did eat : acquaint us with the interpreta- 
tion thereof ; for we see thee to be [one] of the beneficent. 
— He repKed, There shall not come unto you any food 
wherewith ye shall be fed in a dream, but I will acquaint 
you with the interpretation thereof when ye are awake, 
before the interpretation of it come unto you. This is apart 
of that which my Lord hath taught me. Verily I have 
abandoned the religion of a people who believe not in God 
and who disbelieve in the world to come ; and I follow 
the religion of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 
It is not fit for us to associate anything with God. This 

1 That is, to Kitfeer and his that Zeleekha desired it, feigning, to 
friends. The occasion of Joseph'sim- deceive her husband, that she wanted 
prisonment is said to be either that to have Joseph removed from her 
they suspected him to be guilty not- sight till she could conquer her pas- 
withstanding the proofs which had sion by time ; though her real design 
been given of his innocence, or else was to force him to compliance. — S. 



JACOB, JOSEPH, AND HIS BRETHREN. Si 

hnowiedge of the unity [hath been given us] of the bounty 
of God towards us and towards mankind ; but the greater 
number of men are not thankful. ye two companions 
{or inmates) of the prison, are sundry lords better, or is 
God, the One, the Almighty? Ye worship not, beside 
Him, [aught] save names which ye and your fathers have 
given to idols, concerning which God hath not sent down 
any convincing proof. Judgment belongeth not [unto any] 
save unto God alone. He hath commanded that ye wor- 
ship not [any] but Him. This is the right religion ; but 
the greater number of men know not. ye two com- 
panions of the prison, as to one of you, namely, the cup- 
hearer, he will serve wine unto his lord as formerly ; and 
as to the other, he wiU be crucified, and the birds wiU eat 
from off his head. — Upon this they said, We dreamed not 
aught. He replied. The thing is decreed concerning which 
ye [did] ask a determination, whether ye have spoken truth 
or have lied. And he said unto him whom he judged to be 
the person who should escape of them two, namely the cup- 
hearer, Mention me unto thy Lord, and say unto him. In 
the prison is a young man imprisoned unjustly. — And he went 
forth. But the devD. caused him to forget to mention 
Joseph unto his lord : ^ so he remained in the prison some 
years : it is said, seven ; and it is said, twelve. 

And the king of Egypt, ^ Er-Reiydn the son of El- Weleed 
said, Verily I saw [in a dream] seven fat kine which seven 
lean kine devoured, and seven green ears of corn and seven 
other ears dried up. ye nobles, explain unto me my 



1 According to the explication of ^ This prince, as the Oriental 

some who take the pronoun him, writersgenerally agree, was Er-Eeiyan 

to relate to Joseph, this passage may the son of El- Weleed the Amalekite, 

be rendered, 'But the devil caused who was converted by Joseph to the 

him {i.e., Joseph) to forget to make worship of the true God, and died in 

his ai)plication unto his lord ; ' and the lifetime of that prophet. But 

to beg the good offices of his fellow- some pretend that the Pharaoh of 

prisoner for his deliverance, instead Joseph and of Moses were one and 

of relying on God alone, as it became the same person, and that he lived 

a prophet, esjiecially, to have done, (or rather reigned) four hundred 

— S. (B.) years.-S. (B.) 

F 



82 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-JN. 

dream, if ye interpret a dream. — They replied, These are 
confused dreams, and we know not the interpretation of 
dreams. And he who had escaped, of the two young men, 
namely the cup-hearer, said (for he rememhered after a 
time the condition of JosepK), I will acquaint you with the 
interpretation thereof ; wherefore send me. So they sent 
him ; and he came unto Joseph, and said, Joseph, thou 
of great veracity, give us an explanation respecting seven 
fat kine which seven lean [kine] devoured, and seven green 
ears of corn and other [seven] dried up, that I may return 
unto the men (the king and his companions), that they 
may know the interpretation thereof. He replied. Ye shall 
sow seven years as usual : (this is the interpretation of the 
seven fat kine ;) and what ye reap do ye leave in its ear, 
lest it spoil ; except a little, whereof ye shall eat. Then 
there shall come, after that, seven grievous [years] : (this is 
the interpretation of the seven lean kine :) they shall con- 
sume what ye shall have provided for them, of the grain 
sown in the seven years of plenty, except a little which ye 
shall have kept. Then there shall come, after that, a year 
wherein men shall be aided with rain, and wherein they 
shall press gropes and other fruits. — And the king said, 
when tlie messenger came unto him and acquainted him with 
the interpretation of the dream, Bring unto me him who 
hath interpreted it. (xii. 35-50.) 

And when he had spoken unto him,* he said unto him. 
Thou art this day firmly established with us, and intrusted 
^vith our affairs. What then seest thou Jit for us to do ? — 
He answered, Collect provision, and sow abundant seed in 

^ Tlie commentators say that one of which he discoursed with 

Joseph, being taken out of prison, Joseph, who answered him in the 

after he had washed and changed his same ; at which tlie king, greatly 

clothes, was introduced to the king, marvelling, desired him to relate his 

whom he saluted in the Hebrew dream, which he did, describing the 

tongue, and on the king's asking most minute circumstances : where- 

what language that was, he answered upon the king placed Joseph by him 

that it was the language of his fathers, on his throne, and made him his 

This prince, they say, understood no Wezeer, or chief minister. — S. (B.) 
less than seventy languages, in every 



JACOB, JOSEPH, AND HIS BRETHREN. 83 

these plentiful years, and store up the grain in its ear : then 
the people will come unto thee that they may oUain provision 
from thee. The king said, And who will act for me in this 
affair? Joseph said, Set me over the granaries of the 
land ; for I am careful [and] knowing. — Thus did "We 
prepare an' establishment for Joseph in the land, that he 
might take for himself a dwelling therein wherever he 
pleased. — And it is related that the king crmmied him, and 
put a ring on his finger, and instated him in the place of 
Kitfeer, whom, he dismissed from his office ; after which, 
Ifitfeer died, and thereupon the king married him to his 
wife Zeleekha, and she tore him, two sans.^ We bestow Our 
mercy on whom "We please, and "We cause not the reward 
of the well-doers^ to perish : and certainly the reward of 
the world to come is better for those who have believed 
and have feared. 

And the years of scarcity began, and afflicted the land 
of Canaan and Syria, and the brethren of Joseph came, 
except Benjamin, to procure provision, having heard that the 
governor of Egypt gave food for its price. ^ And they went 
in unto him, and he knew them ; but they knew him not ; 

^ Namely, Ephraim and Manasses : the natives at this day ascribing 
so that according to this tradition, to the patriarch Joseph almost all 
she was the same woman who is called the ancient works of public utility 
Asenath by ' Moses.' This supposed throughout the kingdom ; as par- 
marriage, which authorized their ticularly the rendering the province 
amours, probably encouraged the of El-Feiyoom, from a standing pool 
Mohammadan divines to make use or marsh, the most fertile and best- 
of the loves of Joseph and Zeleekha cultivated land in all Egypt. "When 
as an allegorical emblem of the spi- the years of famine came, the effects 
ritual love between the Creator and of which were felt not only in Egypt 
the creature, God and the soul ; just but in Syria and the neighbouring 
as the Christians apply the Song of countries, the inhabitants were ob- 
Solomon to the same mystical pur- liged to apply to Joseph for corn, 
jjose. — S. which he sold to them, first for their 

'■' Joseph, being made Wezeer, money, jewels, and ornaments, then 

governed with great wisdom ; for he for their cattle and lands, and at 

not only caused justice to be imparti- length for their persons; so that all 

ally administered and encouraged the the Egyptians in general became 

people to industry and the improve- slaves to the king, though Joseph by 

ment of agriculture during the seven his consent soon released them and 

years of plenty, but began and per- returned them their substance. — S. 

f eoted several works of great benefit ; (B. ) 



84 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

and they spake unto him in the Helrew language ; where- 
upon he said, as one who distrusted them, What hath brought 
you to my country ? So they answered. For corn. But he 
said. Perhaps ye are spies. They replied, God preserve us 
[from heing spies] ! He said. Then whence are ye ? They 
answered, From the land of Canaan, and our father is Jacob, 
the prophet of God. He said. And hath he sons beside you ? 
They answered. Yea : we were twelve ; but the youngest of 
us went away, and perished in the desert, and he was the 
dearest of us unto him, ; and his uterine brother remained, 
and he retained him that he might console himself thereby for 
the loss of the other} And Joseph gave orders to lodge 
tliem, and to treat them generously. And when he had 
furnished them with their provision, and given them their 
full measure, he said, Bring me your brother from your 
father, namely, Benjamin, that I muy know your veracity 
in that ye have said. Do ye not see that I give full measure, 
and that I am the most hospitable of the receivers of guests ? 
But if ye bring him not, there shall be no measuring 
of corn for you from me, nor shall ye approach me. — 
They replied. We will solicit his father for him, and we 
will surely perform that. And he said unto his young 
men. Put their money,^ which they brought as the price of 
the corn, in their sacks, that they may know it when they 
have returned to their family: peradventure they will 
j'eturn to us ; for they will not deem it lawful to keep it. — 
And when they returned to their father, they said, our 

1 At lengtli Joseph asked them who should stay behind, and the lot 
■whom they had to vouch for their fell upon Simeon. When they de- 
veracity ; but they told him they parted, Joseph gave each of them a 
knew no man who could vouch for camel, and another for their brother, 
them in Egypt. Then, replied he, — R. (B.) 

one of you shall stay behind with me ^ The original word signifying 
as a pledge, and the others may not only money but also goods bar- 
return home with their provision ; tered or given in exchange for other 
and when ye come again, ye shall merchandise, some commentators tell 
bring your younger brother with you, us that they paid for their corn, not 
that I may know ye have told me the in money, but in shoes and dressed 
truth. Whereupon, it being in vain skins. — S. (B.) 
to dispute the matter, they cast lots 



JACOB, JOSEPH, AND HIS BRETHREN. 85 

father, the measuring [of corn] is denied us if tJwu send 
not our hrother unto him; therefore send with us our 
brother, that "we may obtain measure ; and -we will surely 
take care of him. He said, ShaU I intrust you with him 
otherwise than as I intrusted you with his brother 
Joseph before ? But God is the best guardian, and He is 
the most merciful of those who show mercy. — And when 
they opened their goods, they found their money had 
been returned unto them. They said, our father, what 
desire we of the generosity of the king greater tlian this ? 
Tlris our money hath been returned unto us; and we 
will provide corn for our family, and will take care of 
our brother, and shall receive a camel-load more, for 
our Irother. This is a quantity easy unto the Jcing, 
hy reason of his munificence. — He said, I will by no 
means send him with you until ye give me a solemn 
promise by God that ye will assuredly bring him back 
unto me unless an inevitable and insuperable impediment 
encompass you. And they complied with this his desire. 
And when they had given him their solemn promise, he 
said, God is witness of what we say. And he sent him with 
them ; and he said, my sons, enter not tlie city of Misr by 
one gate ; but enter by different gates ; lest the [evil] eye 
fall upon you. ^ But I shall not avert from you, by my 
saying this, anything decreed to befall you from God : / 
only say this from a feeling of compassion. Judgment 
belongeth not [unto any] save unto God alone. On Him 
do I rely, and on Him let those rely who rely. 

An4 when they entered as their father had commanded 
them, separately, it did not avert from them anything 
decreed to befall them from God, but [only satisfied] a desire 
in the soul of Jacob, which he accomplished ; tliat is, the 

1 The belief in the influence of the come fate, it most certainly would he 

evil eye prevails among all the Mus- u malignant eye.' Hence he per- 

lims, even the most religious and mitted charms (which he disallowed 

learned ; for their prophet said, ' The in almost every other case) to te 

eye hath a complete influence; because employed for the purpose of comiter- 

verily, if there were a thing to over- acting its influence. 



86 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

desire of averting the [evil] eye, arising from a feeling of 
compassion : and he was endowed with knowledge, because 
We had taught him: but the greater number of men, 
namely the unbelievers, know not God's inspiration of His 
saints. And when they went in unto Joseph, he received 
unto him (or pressed unto Mm) his brother. He said, 
VerUy I am thy brother ;i therefore be not sorrowful for 
that which tliey did from envy to us. And he commanded 
him that he should not inform them, and agree with him 
that he should employ a stratagem to retain him with him. 
And when he had furnished them with their provision, he 
put the cup, u'hich was a measure made of gold set with 
jewels,^ in the sack of his brother Benjamin. Then a crier 
cried, after they had gone forth from the chamber of Joseph, 
company of travellers, ye are surely thieves. They 
said (and turned unto them), What is it that ye miss ? 
They answered, We miss the king's measure ; and to him 
who shall bring it [shall be given] a camel-load of corn, 
and I am surety for it, namely the load. They replied, By 
God ! ye well know that we have not come to act 
corruptly in she land, and we have not been thieves. 
The crier and his companions said. Then what shall be the 
recompense of him who hath stolen it, if ye be liars in your 
saying, We have not been thieves, — and it be found among 
you ? They answered. His recompense [shall be that] he 
in whose sack it shall be found shall he made a slave : he, 
the thief, shall he compensation for it; namely, for the 

1 It is related that Joseph, having house, but kept Benjamin in his own 
invited his brethren to an entertain- apartment, where he passed the night, 
ment, ordered them to be placed two The next day, Joseph asked him 
and two together ; by which means, whether he would accept of himself 
Benjamin, the eleventh, was obliged for his brother, in the room of him 
to sit alone, and, bursting into tears, whom he had lost ; to which Ben- 
said, If my brother Joseph were alive, jarain replied, 'AVho can find a 
he would have sat with me. Where- brother comparable unto thee ? Yet 
ui^on Joseph ordered him to be seated thou art not the son of Jacob and 
at the same table with himself, and Kachel.' And upon this, Joseph dis- 
wheu the entertainment was over, covered himself to him. — S. (B.). 
dismissed the rest, ordei'ing that they ^ Some, however, are of oi)inion 
should be lodged two and two in a that it was a drinking-cup. 



JACOB, JOSEPH, AND HIS BRETHREN. 87 

thing stolen. Such was the usage of the family of Jaocb. 
Thus do We recompense the offenders ivho are guilty of 
theft. — So they turned towards Joseph, that he might search 
their sachs. And he began with their sacks, and searched 
them before the sack of his brother [Benjamin], lest he 
should he suspected. Then he took it forth {namely, the 
measure) from the sack of his brother. Thus, saith God, 
did We contrive a stratagem for Joseph. It was not [law- 
ful] for him to take his brother as a slave for theft by the 
law of the king of Egypt {for his recompense ly his law 
was heating, and a fine of twice the value of the thing stolen; 
not the leing m/ide a slave), unless God had pleased, hy 
inspiring him to inquire of his brethren and inspiring them 
to reply according to their usage. We exalt unto degrees 
[of knowledge and honour] whom We please, as Joseph ; 
and [there is who is] knowing above every one [else] 
endowed with knowledge. — They said. If he steal, a 
brother of his hath stolen before ; namely, Joseph ;'^ for he 
stole an idol of gold belonging to the father of his mother, 
and broke it, that he m,ight not worship it. And Joseph 
concealed it in his mind, and did not discover it to them. 
He said within himself, Ye are in a worse condition than 
Joseph and his brother, by reason of your having stolen your 
brother from your father and your having treated him 
unjustly ; and God well knoweth what ye state concerning 
him.—Thej said, prince, verily he hath a father, a very 
old man, who loveth him more than us, and consoleth him- 



^ The occasion of this suspicion, found on Joseph, he was adjudged, 
it is said, was that Joseph having according to the above-mentioned law 
been brought up by his father's sister, of the family, to be delivered to her 
she became so fond of him, that when as her property. Some, however, say 
he grew up and Jacob designed to that Joseph actually stole an idol of 
take him from her she contrived the gold, which belonged to his mother's 
following stratagem to keep him. father, and destroyed it ; a story pro- 
Having a girdle which had once be- bably taken from Rachel's stealing 
longed to Abraham, she girt it about the images of Laban : and others tell 
the child, and then pretending she us that he once stole a goat or a hen, 
had lost it, caused strict search to be to give to a poor man. — S. 
made for it; and it being at length 



88 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

self ly him for the loss of his son who hath 'perished, and 
the separation of him grieveth him ; therefore take one of 
us as a slave in his stead ; for Ave see thee [to be one] of 
the beneficent. He replied, God preserve us from taking 
[any] save him in whose possession we found our pro- 
perty; for then {if we took another), we [should be] 
unjust. 

And when they despaired of [obtaining] him, they 
retired to confer privately together. The chief of them 
in age (namely, Beuhen, or in judgment, namely, Judah), 
said, Do ye not know that your father hath obtained of 
you a solemn promise ia the name of God, with respect of 
your brother, and how ye formerly failed of your duty 
with respect to Joseph ? Therefore I will by no means 
depart from the land of Egypt until my father give me 
permission to return to him, or God decide for me hy the 
delivery of my brother ; and He is the best, the most just, 
of those who decide. Eeturn ye to your father, and say, 
our father, verily thy son hath committed theft, and 
we bore not testimony against him save according to that 
which we knew of a certainty, by our seeing the cup in his 
sack ; and we were not acquainted with what was unseen 
by us when we gave the solemn promise : had we known 
that he would commit theft, we had not taken him. And 
send thou, and ask the people of the city in which we have 
been (namely, Misr)'^ and the company of travellers with 
whom we have arrived (who were a people of Canaan) : 
and we are surely speakers of truth. — So they returned to 
him, and said unto him those words. He replied, Nay, 
your minds have made a thing seem pleasant unto you, 
and ye have done it (he suspected them, on account of their 
former conduct in the case of Joseph) ; but patience is 
seemly : peradventure God will bring them back {namely, 
Joseph and his brother) unto me, together; for He is 
the Knowing with respect to my case, the Wise in His 

' Mijr is the name both of Egypt and its capital. 



'JACOB, JOSEPH, AND HIS BRETHREN. 89 

acts. And he turned from them, and said, ! my sorrow 
for Joseph ! And his eyes became white in consequence 
of mourning, and he was oppressed with silent grief. 
They said, By God, thou wilt not cease to think upon 
Joseph until thou be at the point of death, or be of [the 
number of] the dead. He replied, I only complain of my 
great and unconcealable grief and my sorrow unto God ; 
not unto any beside Him; for He it is unto whom complaint 
is made with advantage ; and I know [by revelation] from 
God what ye know not ; Tiamely, that the dream of Joseph 
was true, and that he is living. Then he said, my sons, 
go and seek news of Joseph and his brother ; and despair 
not of the mercy of God; for none despaireth of the 
mercy of God except the unbelieving people. 

So they departed towards Egypt, unto Joseph ; and when 
they went in unto him, they said, Prince, distress {that 
is, hunger) hath affected us and our family, and we have 
come with paltry money {it was hase money, or some other 
sort) : yet give us full measure, and be charitable to us, by 
eoccusing the badness of our money ; for God recompenseth 
those who act charitably. And he had pity upon them, 
and compassion affected him, and he lifted up the curtain 
that was between him and them : then he said unto them in 
reproach. Do ye know what ye did unto Joseph, in beating 
and selling and other actions, and his brother, by your 
injurious conduct to him after the separation of his brother, 
when ye were ignorant of what would be the result of the 
case of Joseph?^ They replied, after they had recognised 
him {desiring confirmation). Art thou indeed Joseph ? He 
answered, I am Joseph, and this is my brother. God hath 

1 The injury they did Benjamin requesting the releasement of Ben- 
was the separating him from his jamin, and by their representing his 
brother, after which they kept him extreme affliction at the loss of him 
in 80 great subjection that he durst and his brother. The commentators 
not speak to them but with the observe that Joseph, to excuse his 
utmost submission. Some say that brethren's behaviour towards him, 
these words were occasioned by a, attributes it to their ignorance and 
letter which Joseph's brethren de- the heat of youth.— S. (B.) 
livered to him from their father, 



go SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

been gracious unto us, Tjy bringing us together ; for whoso- 
ever feareth God and is patient [will be rewarded] : God 
will not suffer the reward of the well-doers to perish. 
They replied, By God, verily God hath preferred thee 
above us, and we have been indeed sinners. He said, 
[There shall be] no reproach [cast] on you this day : God 
forgive you; for He is the most merciful of those that 
show mercy. And Tie ashed tliem respecting his father : so 
they answered, His eyes are gone. And he said. Go ye with 
this my shirt (it was the shirt of Abraham, which he wore 
tvhen he was cast into the fire : it was on his [that is, 
Joseph's] neck [appended as an amulet] in the well; and 
it was from paradise : Gabriel commanded him to send it, 
and said, In it is its odour [that is, the odour of paradise], 
and it sludl not be cast upon any one afflicted [with a 
disease] but he shall he restored to health), and cast it [said 
Joseph] upon the face of my father : he shall recover his 
sight; and bring unto me all your family. — And when 
the company of travellers had gone forth/rom M-'Areesh'^ of 
Egypt, their father said, unto those who were present of his 
offspring. Verily I perceive the smell of Joseph {for the 
zephyr had conveyed it to him, by 'permission of Him whose 
name he exalted, from the distance of three days' journey, or 
eight, or more) : were it not that ye think I dote, ye would 
believe me. They replied. By God, thou art surely in 
thine old error. And when the messenger of good tidings 
(namely, Judah) came with the shirt (and he had borne the 
bloody shirt; ivherefore he desired to rejoice him, as he 
had grieved him), he cast it upon his face, and he recovered 
his sight. [Thereupon Jacob] said, Did I not say unto 
you, I know, from God, what ye know not ? They said, 
O our father, ask pardon of our crimes for us ; for we have 
been sinners. He replied, I will ask pardon for you of 
my Lord ; for He is the Very forgiving, the Mercifid. — 
He delayed doing so until the first appearance of the dcwm, 

' The frontier town of Kgyi't tow.irds Syria. 



JACOB, JOSEPH, AND HIS BRETHREN. 91 

fhat the prayer might he more likely to he answered; or, as 
some say, until the night of [tbat is, preceding] Friday. 

They then repaired to Egypt, and Joseph and the great 
men came forth to meet them ; and when they went in unto 
Joseph, in his pavilion or tent, he received unto him (or 
pressed unto him) his parents (his father and his mxyther 
and his maternal aunt), and said unto them. Enter ye Misr, 
if God please, in safety.'- So they entered; and Joseph 
seated himself upon his couch, and he caused his parents to 
ascend upon the seat of state, and they (that is, his parents 
and his hrethren) fell down, bowing themselves unto him^ 
(bending, hut not putting the forehead) [upon the ground] : 
su^h being their rtwde of obeisance in that time. And he 
said, my father, this is the interpretation of my dream 
of former times : my Lord hath made it true ; and He hath 
shown favour unto me, since He took me forth from the 
prison Qie said not, from the well, — from a motive cf gene- 
rosity, that his brethren might not be abashed), and hath 
brought you from the desert, after that the devil had 
excited discord between me and my brethren; for my 
Lord is gracious unto whom He pleaseth ; for He is the 
Knowing, the Wise. — And his father resided with him four 
and twenty years, or seventeen ; and the period of his separ- 
ation was eighteen, or forty, or eighty years. And death 
came unto him ; and thereupon he charged Joseph that he 
should carry him and hury him by his fathers. So he went 
himself and buried him. Then he returned to Egypt and 
remained after him three and twenty years ; and when his 
case was ended, and he knew that he should not last [upon 
earth], and his soid desired the lasting possession, he said, 



1 El - Beydawee tell us that were increased to six hundred thou- 

Joseph sent carriages and provisions sand five hundred and seventy men, 

for his father and his family ; and and upwards, besides the old people 

that he and the king of Egypt went and children.— S. 

forth to meet them. He adds that " A transposition is supposed to 

the number of the children of Israel be in these words ;— he seated his 

who entered Egypt with him was father and mother after they had 

seventy-two ; and that when they bowed down to him, and not before, 

were led out thence by Moses, they — S. (B.) 



92 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

my Lord, Thou hast given me dominion, and taught me 
the interpretation of events (or dreams) : Creator of the 
heavens and the earth, Thou art my guardian in this 
world and in the world to come. Make me to die a 
Muslim, and join me with the righteous among my fore- 
fathers. And he lived after that a week, or more, and died 
a hundred and twenty years old. And the Egyptians dis- 
puted concerning his burial : so they put him in a chest of 
marhle, and huried him in the upper part of the Nile, that 
the blessing [resulting from him] might be general to the 
tracts on each side of it} Extolled he the perfection of Bim, 
to lohose dominion there is no end ! (xii. 54-102). 

1 But when Moses led the Israel- with him into Canaan, where he 
ites out of Egypt, he took up the buried them by his ancestors. — S. 
coffin, and carried Joseph's bones (B.) 



( 93 ) 



JOB. 

And remember Our servant Job [Eiyoob^] when he 
called unto his Lord, Verily the devil hath afflicted me 
■with calamity and pain. (The affliction is attributed to the 
devil, though all was from God.) And it was said unto 
him, Strike the earth with thy foot. And he did so; 
whereupon a fountain of water spran/j forth? And it was 
said, This is cool water for thee to wash with, and to drink. 
So he washed himself and drank ; and, every disease that he 
had, external and internal, quitted him. And We gave 
unto him his family, and as many more with them {that is, 
God raised to life for him those of his children who had 
died, and hlest him with as many more)^ in Our mercy and as 
an admonition unto those who are endowed with faculties 



1 The Mohammadan -writers tell 
us that Job was of the race of Esau, 
and was blessed with a numerous 
family and abundant riches; but 
that God proved him by taking away 
all that he had, even his children, 
who were killed by the fall of a house ; 
notwithstanding which he continued 
to serve God and to return Him 
thanks as usual; that he was then 
struck with a filthy disease, his body 
being full of worms and so offensive 
that as he lay on the dunghill none 
could bear to come near him : that 
his wife, however (whom some call 
Ealimeh the daughter of Ephraim 
the son of Joseph, and others Makhir 
the daughter of Manasses), attended 
him with great patience, supporting 
him with what she earned hy her 
labour; but that the devil appearing 
to her one day, after having reminded 
her of her past prosperity, promised 



her that if she would worship him, 
he would restore all they had lost ; 
whereupon she asked her husband's 
consent, who was so angry at the pro- 
posal, that he swore, if he recovered, 
to give his wife a hundred stripes. 
— S. (B., J., A.F.) 

^ Some say there were two springs, 
one of hot water wherein he bathed, 
and the other of cold of which he 
drank.— S. (B.) 

* His wife also becoming young 
and handsome again, and bearing him 
twenty-six sons. Some, to express 
the great riches which were bestowed 
on Job after his sufferings, say he 
had two threshing-floors, one for 
wheat and the other for barley, and 
that God sent two clouds, which 
rained gold on the one and silver on 
the other till they ran over. — (J.) 
The traditions differ as to the con- 
tinuance of Job's calamities : one 



94 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

of understanding. [And We said unto himj Take in thy 
hand a handful of dry grass, or of tvngs^ and strike with 
it thy vnfe {for he had sworn that he would inflict upon her 
a hundred Mows, because she had staid away from him too 
long one day ^) and break not thine oath hy abstaining from 
striking her. — So he took a hundred stalks of schoemanthus, 
or some other plant, and gave her one blow with them. 
Verily We found him a patient person. How excellent 
a servant was he ! For he was one who earnestly turned 
himself unto God. (xxxviii. 40-44.) 

■will have it to be eighteen years ; ^ Or ' a palm-branoli having s, 

another, thirteen; another, three; hundred leaves.'— S. 

and another, exactly seven years ^ But see note i. 
seven months and seven hours. — S. 



( 95 



SffO 'EY£. 

And we sent unto Midian [Medyen] tHeir brother 
Sho'eyb.i He said, O my people, worship God; assert 
His unity. Ye have no other deity but Him. And give 
not short measure and weight. Verily I see you [to be] 
in a state of prosperity that placeth you above the need of 
doing so ; and verily I fear for you, if ye believe not, the 
punishment of a day that will encompass you with destrvx- 
tion. And, my people, give full measure and weight 
with equity ; and diminish not unto men aught of their 
things nor commit injustice in the earth, acting corruptly, 
by murder or other offences. The residue of God {Mis supply 
that remaineth to you after the completion of the measure) 
will be better for you than diminution, if ye be believers. 
And I am not a guardian over you, to recompense you for 
your actions : I have only been sent as an admonisher. — 
They replied, in mockery, Sho'eyb, do thy prayers com- 
mand thee that we are to leave what our fathers wor- 
shipped, or cease to do with our riches what we please ? 
VerUy thou art the mild, the right director. This they 
said in mockery. — He said, my people, tell me, if I act 
according to an evident proof from my Lord, and He hath 
supplied me with a good lawful provision, shaU I mix it 
up with what is forbidden, and shall I not desire to 

1 The commentators generally sup- son-inJaw [Moses] that wonder-work- 
pose him to be the same person with ing rod with which he performed all 
the father-in-law of Moses, who is those miracles in Egypt and the 
named in Scripture Reuel or Eaguel, Desert, and also excellent advice and 
andJethro. But Ahmad Ibn-'Abd-El- instructions; whence he had the 
Haleem charges those who entertain surname of * Khateeb-el-Ambiya,' or 
this opinion with ignorance. They 'the Preacher to the Prophets.' — S. 
say (after the Jews) that he gave his 



96 SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-AN. 

oppose you, and shall I hetalce myself to that whicli I for- 
bid you ? I desire not [aught] but your reformation, as 
far as I am able [to effect it], and my help is not [in any] 
but in God : on Him do I rely, and unto Him do I turn 
me. And, my people, let not the opposition of me pro- 
cure for you the befalling you of the like of that which 
befell the people of Noah or the people of Hood or the 
people of Salih. And the abodes of the people of Lot [are] 
not distant from you : (or the time of their destruction was 
not long ago :) therefore be admonished. And ask ye forgive- 
ness of your Lord, and turn unto Him with repentance ; 
for my Lord is merciful to the believers, loving to them. 
They replied, Sho'eyb, we understand not much of what 
thou sayest, and verily we see thee to be weak ^ among 
us ; and were it not for thy family, we had stoned thee ; 
for thou art not, in our estimation, an honourable person : 
thy family only are the honourable. He said, my people, 
are my family more honourable in your estimation than 
God, and do ye abstain from slaying me for their sake, and 
not preserve me for God, and have ye cast Him behind you 
as a thing neglected? Verily my Lord comprehendeth 
that which ye do, and He will recompense you. And, 
my people, act ye according to your condition : verily I 
will act according to mine. Ye shall know on whom shall 
come a punishment that shall render him vile, and who is 
a Har : and await ye the issue of your case : verily I await 
with you. — And when Our degree for their destruction 
came [to be executed], we delivered Sho'eyb and those 
who believed with him, in our mercy, and the cry of 
Gabriel assailed those who had offended, so that in the 
morning they were in their abodes prostrate and dead, as 
though they had not dwelt therein. Was not Midian 
removed as Thamood had been removed ? (xi. 85-98.) 



* The Arabic "word * da'eef ' Midianites objected that to him as 

(weak) signifying also in the Him- a defect which disqualified him for 

yaritic dialect 'blind, ' some suppose the prophetic office. — S. 
that Sho'eyb was so, and that the 



( 97 ) 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 

We will rehearse unto thee, [0 Mohammad, somewhat] 
of the history of Moses [Moosa] and Pharaoh [Fir'own 
or rar'oon],^ with truth, for the sake of people who be- 
lieve. VerUy Pharaoh exalted himself in the land of 
li!gyX>t, and divided its inhabitants into parties to serve 
him. He rendered weak one class of them, namely the 
children of Israel, slaughtering their male children, and 
preserving alive their females, because one of the diviners 
said unto him, A child will ie born among the children 
of Israel, who will be the means of the loss of thy king- 
dom ; — for he was [one] of the corrupt doers. And We 
desired to be gracious unto those who had been deemed 
weak in the land, and to make them models of religion, 
and to make them the heirs of the possessions of Pharaoh, 
and to establish them in the land of Egypt, and in Syria, 
and to show Pharaoh and Haman ^ and their forces what 

1 Which of the kings of Egypt this says that Mus'ab, being one hundred 

Pharaoh of Moses was is uncertain, and seventy years old and having no 

Not to mention the opinions of the child, while he kept the herds saw a 

European writers, those of the East cow calve, and heard her say at the 

generally suppose him to have been same time, ' O Mus'ab, be not grieved, 

El-Weleed, who according to some for thou shalt have a wicked son, 

was an Arab of the tribe of 'Ad, who will be at length cast into hell.' 

or according to others the son of And he accordingly had this Weleed, 

Mus'ab the son of Br-Keiy4n the who afterwards coming to be king of 

son of El-Weleed the Amalekite. Egypt proved an impious tyrant. — 

There are historians, however, who S. (A.F., Z.) 

suppose 5&boo3 the brother and ^ This name is given to Pharaoh's 

predecessor of El-Weleed was the chief minister ; from whence it is 

prince we are speaking of, and pre- generally inferred that Mohammad 

tend he lived six hundred and has here made Haman the favourite 

twenty years and reigned four bun- of Ahasuerus king of Persia, and 

dred. Which is more reasonable, at who indisputably lived many years 

least, than the opinion of those who after Moses, to be that prophet's 

imagine it was his father Mu§'ab or contemporary. — S. 
grandfather Er-Eeiyd,u. Abu-1-Fida 

a 



98 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

they feared from them. And We said, by revelation, unto 
the mother of Moses, the child above-mentioned, of whose 
hirth none knew save his sister, Suckle him ; and when thou 
fearest for him cast him in the river Nile, and fear not his 
being droivned, nor mourn for his separation ; for We will 
restore him unto thee, and will make hi-m [one] of the 
apostles.^ So she suckled him, three Tnonths, during which 
he tvcpt not ; and then she feared for him, wherefore she put 
him into an ark pitched within and furnished with a bed 
for him, and she closed it and cast it in the river Nile by 
night. And the family {or servants) of Pharaoh lighted 
upon him in the ark on the morrow of thai night ; ^ so they 
put it before him, and it was opened, and Moses wees taken 
forth from it, sucking milk from his thumb : [this happened] 
that he might be unto them eventually an enemy (slaying 
their men) and an affliction (making slaves of their women) ; 
for Pharaoh and Haman (his Wezeer) and their forces were 
sinners ; wherefore they were punished by his hand. And the 
wife of Pharaoh said, when he and his servants had proposed 
to kill him, He is delight of the eye unto me and unto 
thee : do not ye kUl him : peradventure he may be ser- 
viceable unto us, or we may adopt him as a son. And 



1 It is related that the midwife that the stream carried the ark 
aijpointed to attend the Hebrew thither into a, fishpond, at the head 
■women, terrified by a light which of which Pharaoh wag then sitting 
appeared between the eyes of Moses with his wife Asiyeh the daughter of 
at his birth, and touched with an Mazihem ; and that the king, having 
extraordinary affection for the child, commanded it to be taken up and 
did not discover him to the officers, opened, and finding in it a beautiful 
so that his mother kept him in her child, took a fancy to it, and ordered 
house, and nursed him three months ; it to be brought up.— Some writers 
after which it was impossible for mention a miraculous preservation of 
her to conceal him any longer, the Moses before he was put into the ark ; 
king then giving orders to make the and tell us, that his mother having 
searches more strictly. — S. (B.) hid him from Pharaoh's officers in 

2 The commentators say that his an oven, his sister, in her mother's 
mother made an ark of the papyrus, absence, kindled a large fire in the 
andpitchedit.andputinsomecotton ; oven to heat it, not knowing the 
and having laid the ohUd therein, child was there ; but that he was 

committed it to the river, a branch of afterwards taken out unhurt. S. 

which went into Pharaoh's garden : (B., A.F.) 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 99 

they complied with her desire ; and they knew not the con- 
sequence. 

And the heart of the mother of Moses, when she knew of 
his having been lighted upon, became disquieted ; and she 
had almost made him known to be her son, had We not 
fortified her heart with patience, that she might be [one] 
of the believers in Our promise. And she said unto his 
sister Maryam [or Mary], Trace him, that thou mayest 
know his case. And she watched him from a distance, 
while they knew not tliat she was his sister and that she was 
watching him. And We forbade him the breasts, preventing 
him from taking the breast of any nurse except his mother, 
before his restoration to her: so his sister said. Shall I 
direct you unto the people of a house who will nurse him 
for you, and who will be faithful unto him? And her 
offer was accepted ; therefore she brought his mother, and he 
took her breast : so she returned with him to her house, as 
God Jmth said, — And We restored him to his mother, that 
her eye might be cheerful and that she might not grieve, 
and that she might know that the promise of God to restore 
him unto her was true : but the greater number of them (that 
is, of mankind) know not this. And it appeared not that 
this was his sister and this his mother ; and he remained 
with her until she had weaned him ; and her hire was paid 
her, for every day a decndr, which she took [without 
scruple] because it was the wealth of a hostile person. She 
then brought him icnto Pharaoh, and he was brought up in 
his abode, as God hath related of him in the Chapter of the 
Poets,'^ [where Pharaoh said unto Moses,] Have we not 
brought thee up among us a child, and hast thou not dwelt 
among us [thirty] years of thy life ? 

And when he had attained his age of strength {thirty 
years or thirty and three), and had become of full age 
{forty years). We bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge 
in religion, before he was sent as a prophet ; and thus do 

^ Kur. xxvi. 17, 



loo SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

We reward the well-doers. And he entered the city of 
Pharaoh, which was Munf [or Memphis], after he had 
ieen absent from him a while, at a time when its inhabi- 
tants were inadvertent, at the hour of the noon-sleep, and 
he found therein two men fighting ; this [being] of his 
party [namely an Israelite), and this of his enemies (an 
Egyptian), who was compelling the Israelite to carry fire- 
wood to the kitchen of Pharaoh without pay : and he who 
was of his party begged him to aid him against him who 
was of his enemies. So Moses said unto the latter. Let him 
go. And it is said that he replied to Moses, I have a mind 
to put the burden upon thee. And Moses struck him with 
his fist, and killed him. Put he intended not to kill him ; 
and he buried him in the somd. He said, This is of the work 
of the devil, who hath excited my anger; for he is an 
enemy unto the son of Adam, a manifest misleader of him. 
He said, in repentance, my Lord, verily I have acted 
injuriously unto mine own soul, by killing him; therefore 
forgive me. So He forgave him : for He is the Very 
Forgiving, the Merciful. — He said, my Lord, by the 
favours with which Thou hast favoured me, defend me, and 
I wiU by no means be an assistant to the sinners after 
this. — And the next morning he was afraid in the city, 
watching /or what might happen unto him on account of 
the slain man ; and lo, he who had begged his assistance 
the day before was crying out to him for aid against 
another Egyptian. Moses said unto him. Verily thou art 
a person manifestly in error, because of that which thou, 
hast done yesterday and to-day. But when he was about 
to lay violent hands upon him who was an enemy unto 
them both, {namely unto Moses and him who begged his aid,) 
the latter said, imagining that he would lay violent hands 
lopon him, because of that which he had said unto him, 
Moses, dost thou desire to kill me, as thou killedst a soul 
yesterday ? Thou desirest not [aught] but to be an 
oppressor in the land, and thou desirest not to be [one] 
of the reconcilers. — A^id the Pgypitian heard that: so he 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. lol 

Icnew tliat the killer was 3Ioses ; wlurefore he dcjxxrtecl unto 
Plmraoh and acquainted him therewith, and Pharaoh 
commanded the executioners to slay Moses, and they betook 
themselves to seek him. But a man who was a believer of 
the family of Pharaoh'^ came from tlie furthest part of the 
city, running by a way that was nearer than the wcLy by 
which they had come : he said, Moses, verily the chiefs 
of the people of Pharaoh are consulting respecting thee, to 
slay thee ; therefore go forth from the city : verUy I am 
unto thee [one] of the admonishers. So he went forth 
from it in fear, watching in fear of pursuer, or for the aid 
of God. He said, my Lord, deliver me from the unjust 
people of Pharaoh ! ^ 

And when he was journeying towards Medyen, luhi-ch 
toas the city of Sho'eyb, eight days' journey from Misr (named 
after Medyen the son of Abraham), and he knew not the way 
unto it, he said, Peradventure my Lord will direct me unto 
the right way, or the middle way. And God sent unto him 
an angel, having in his hand a short spear ; and he went 
with him thither.^ And when he came unto the water 
{or welV) of Medyen, he found at it a company of men 
watering their animals ; and he found besides them two 
women keeping away their sheep from the water. He said 
unto them (namely the two women). What is the matter 
with you that ye water not? They answered, We shall 
not water until the pastors shall have driven away their 
animals; and our father is a very old man, who cannot 
water the sheep. And he watered for them from another 
well near unto them, from which he lifted a stone that none 

^ This person, says the tradition, -* According to El-Beydawee, Moses 

was an Eg;yptian and Pharaoh's knew not the way, and, coming to a 

uncle's son. — S. place where three roads met, oom- 

2 The Jews pretend he was actu- mitted himself to the guidance of 

ally imprisoned for the fact, and God, and took the middle road, 

condemned to be beheaded ; but which was the right ; Providence 

that when he should have suffered likewise so ordering it that his pur- 

liis neck became as liard as ivory, suers took the other two roads, and 

and the sword rebounded on the missed him. — S. 
executioner. — S. 



102 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

could lift tut ten persons. Then lie retired to the shade 
of an Egyptian thorn-tree on account of the violence of the 
heat of the sun ; and he was hungry, and he said, my 
Lord, verUy I am in need of the good provision which Thou 
shalt send down unto me. And the two women returned 
unto their father in less time than they were accustomed to 
do : so he asked them the reason thereof : and they informed 
Mm of the person who had watered for them ; whereupon he 
said unto one of them, Call him unto me. 

And one of them ^ came unto him, walking bashfully, 
loith the sleeve of her shift over her face, hy reason of her 
abashment at him : she said. My father calleth thee, that 
he may recompense thee with the reward of thy having 
watered for us. And he assented to her call, disliking in 
his mind the receiving of the reward : but it seemeth that she 
intended the compensation if he vxre of such as desired it. 
And she walked iefore him ; and the wind hleiv her garment, 
and her legs were discovered : so lie said unto her, Walk 
behind me and direct me in the way. And she did so, until 
.she came unto her father, who was Shdeyb, on whom be peace ! 
and with him was [prepared] a supper. Jle said unto him, 
Sit and sup. But he replied, I fear lest it be a compensation 
for my having ivatered for them, and ive are a family ivho 
seek not a compensation for doing good. He said, Nay, it is 
my custom and hath been the custom of my fathers to enter- 
tain the guest and to give food. So he ate ; and acquainted, 
him with his case. And when he had come unto him, and 
had related to him the story of his having killed the 
Egyptian and their intention to kill him and his fear of 
Pharaoh, he replied. Fear not: thou hast escaped from 
the unjust people. {For Fharaoh had no dominion over 
Medyen) One of them [namely of the women] said 
{and she luas the one %vho had been sent), my father, hire 
him to tend our sheep in oitr stead; for the best whom 

' This was Safoora [also called posethe younger, daughterofSho'eyb, 
Pafoorah and Safooriya], or Zip- whom Moses afterwards married.— S. 
porah, the elder, or as others sup- 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 103 

thou canst hire is the strong, the trustworthy. So he 
asked her respectiTig him, and she acquainted him with what 
hath ieen above related, his lifting up the stone of the well, 
and his saying unto her, Walk behind me ; — and moreover, 
that when she had come unto him, and he knew of her pre- 
sence, he hung down his head and raised it not. He there- 
fore said, Verily I desire to marry thee unto one of these 
my two daughters, on the condition that thou shalt be i 
hired servant to me, to tend my sheep, eight years ; and if 
thou fulfil ten years, it shall be of thine own will ; and I 
desire not to lay a difficulty upon thee hy imposing as a 
condition the ten years : thou shalt find me, if God please, 
[one] of the just, who are faithful to their covenants. He 
replied, This [be the covenant] between me and thee: 
whichever of the two terms I fulfil, there shall be no 
injustice against me hy demanding an addition thereto ; 
and God is witness of what we say. And the marriage- 
contract was concluded according to this; and Sho^eyh 
ordered his daughter to give unto Moses a rod wherevjith to 
drive away the wild beasts from his sheep : and the rods- oj 
the prophets were in his possession ; and the rod of Adam, 0^ 
the myrtle of paradise, fell into her hand ; and Moses took 
it, with the knowledge of Sho'eyb. (xxviii. 21-28.) 

Hath the history of Moses been related to thee ? when 
he saw fire,'- during his journey from Medyen, on his way 
to Egypt, and said unto his family, or his wife, Tarry ye 
here ; for I have seen fire : perhaps I may bring you a 
brand from it, or fiud st the fire a guide to direct me in the 
way. For he had missed the way in consequence of the 
darkness of the night. And when he came unto it {and it 



1 The commentators say, that a very dark and snowy night : he had 

Moses, having obtained leave of also lost his way, and his cattle were 

Sho'eyb or Jethro, his father-in-law, scattered from him, when on a sud- 

to visit his mother, departed with his den he saw a fire by the side of a 

familyfromMidiantowardsEgypt; but mountain, which on his nearer 

coming to the valley of Tuwa, where- ajiproach he found burning in a green 

in Mount Sinai stands, his wife fell in bush.— S. (B.) 
labour and was delivered of a son in 



104 SELECTIONS FROM THE KURAN. 

ims a hramUc-hush), he was called to [by a voice saying], 
Moses, verily I am thy Lord; therefore pull off thy 
shoes ; ^ for thou art in the holy valley of Tuwa. And I 
have chosen thee from among tliy people; wherefore 
hearken attentively unto that which is revealed unto thee 
hy Me. Verily I am God : there is no Deity except Me ; 
therefore worship Me, and perform prayer in remembrance 
of Me. Verily the hour is coming : I will manifest it unto 
vnanhind, and its nearness shall appear unto them hy its 
signs, that every soul may be recompensed therein for its 
good and evil work : therefore let not him who believeth 
not in it, and foUoweth his lust, hinder thee from believing 
in it, lest thou perish. And what is that in thy right 
hand, Moses ? — He answered, It is my rod, whereon I 
lean and wherewith I beat down leaves for my sheep that 
they may eat them; and I have other uses for it, as the carry- 
ing of provision and the water-skin, and the driving away of 
reptiles. He said, Cast it down, Moses. So he cast it 
down; and lo, it was a serpent,^ running along. God 
said, Take it, and fear it not : ^ we will restore it to its 
former state. And he put his hand into its mouth; where- 
upon it iecame again a rod. [And God said,] And put thy 
right hand to thy left arm-pit, and take it forth : it shall 
come forth white, without evU, (that is, without leprosy; 
shining like the rays of the sun, dazzling the sight,) as 
another sign, that We may show thee the greatest of our 
signs of thine apostleship. (And when he desired to restore 
his hand to its first state, he put it as hefore described, and 
drew it forth) Go as an apostle unto Pharaoh and those 



^ This was a mark of humility ^ "When Moses saw the serpent 

and respect : though some fancy move about with great nimbleness 

there was some uncleanness in the and swallow stones and trees, he was 

shoes themselves, because they were greatly terrified, and fled from it ; but 

made of the skin of an ass not recovering his courage at these words 

dressed. — S. (B.) of God, he had the boldness to take 

^ AVhich was at iirst no bigger than the serpent by the jaws. — S. (B.) 
the rod, but afterwards swelled to a 
prodigious size. — S. (B.) 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 105 

who are with him; for he hath acted with exceeding 
impiety hy arrogating to himsdf divinity. — Moses said, 
my Lord, dilate my bosom, that it may tear the message, 
and make my affair easy unto me, and loose the knot of 
my tongue (this had arisen from his having been burned in 
his mouth by a live coal when he was a child)} that they 
may understand my speech when I deliver the message. 
And appoint unto me a Wezeer of my family, namely 
Aaron [Haroon] my brother. Strengthen my back by 
him, and make him a colleague in my affair, that we may 
glorify Thee much, and remember Thee much ; for Thou 
knowest us. 

God replied. Thou hast obtained thy petition, Moses, 
and We have been gracious unto thee another time : 
forasmuch as "We revealed unto thy mother what was 
revealed, when she gave birth to thee and feared that 
Pharaoh would kill thee among the others that were born, 
[saying,] Cast him into the ark, and then cast him, in the 
arh, into the river Nile, and the river shall throw him on 
the shore ; then an enemy unto Me and an enemy unto 
him (namely Pharaoh) shall take him. And I bestowed 
on thee, after he had taken thee, love from Me, that thou 
mightest be loved by men, so that Pharaoh and all that saw 
thee loved thee; and that thou mightest be bred up in 
Mine eye. [Also] forasmuch as thy sister Maryam went 
that she might learn what became of thee, after they had 
brought nurses and thou hadst refused to take the breast 
of any one of them, and she said, Shall I direct you unto 
one who will nurse him ? {whereupon her proposal was 



' Moses had an impediment in his but a child, who could not distinguish 
speech, which was occasioned by the between a burning coal and a ruby, he 
following accident. Pharaoh one day ordered the experiment to be made ; 
carrying him in his. arms when a and a live coal and a ruby being set 
child, he suddenly laid hold of his before Moses, he took the coal and 
beard and plucked it in a very rough put it into his mouth, and burnt his 
manner, which put Pharaoh into tongue : and thereupon he was par- 
such a passion that he ordered him doned. — This is a Jewish story a little 
to be put to death : but Asiyeh his altered, — S. 
wife representing to him that he was 



lo6 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

accepted, and she hrought his mother) : so We restored th 
to thy mother, that her eye might become cheerful and tl: 
she might not grieve. And thou slowest a soul, namt 
the Copt in Egypt, and wast sorry for his slaughter, 
account of Pharaoh, and We delivered thee from sorro' 
and We tried thee with other trial, and delivered thee fn 
it} And thou stayedst ten years among the people 
Medyen, after thou hadst come thither from Egypt, at \ 
abode of Sho'eyh the prophet, and he married thee to i 
daughter. Then thou camest according to My decree, 
to the time of thy mission, when thou hadst attained the c 
of forty years, Moses ; and I have chosen thee i 
Myself. Go thou and thy brother ^ unto the people, vr. 
My nine signs, and cease ye not to remember Me. Go 
unto Pharaoh ; for he hath acted with exceeding impiei 
by arrogating to himself divinity, and speak unto him wi 
gentle speech, exhorting him to relinquish that conduc 
peradventure he will consider, or will fear God, and repe: 
{The [mere] hope ivith respect to the two [results 
expressed] iecaitse of God's knowledge that he would i 
repent?) — They replied, our Lord, verily we fear that 
may be precipitately violent against us, hastening 
punish us, or that he may act with exceeding injusti 
toivards us. He said, Fear ye not ; for I am with you : 
will hear and will see. Therefore go ye unto him, ai 
say, Verily we are the apostles of thy Lord : therefc 
send with us the children of Israel ujito Syria, and do n 
aiflict them, hut cease to employ them in thy difficult wor, 
such as digging and hiilding and carrying the hea 
hurden. We have come unto thee with a sign from tl 
Lord, attesting our veracity in asserting ourselves apostle 



^ For he was obliged to abandon ^ Aaron bein^ by tbis time co 

liis country and his friends, and to out to meet his brotlier, either 

travel several days in great terror divine inspiration, or having not 

and want of necessary provisions to of his design to return to Egypt, 

seek a refuge among strangers; and S. (B.) 
was afterwards forced to serve for 
hire to gain a livelihood. — S. 



MOSES AND HTS PEOPLE. 107 

and peace be on him who followeth the right direction : — 
that is, he shall he secure from punishment. Verily it hath 
been revealed unto us that punishment [shall be inflicted] 
upon him who chargeth with falsehood that wherewith we 
have come, and turneth away from it. (xx. 8-50.) 

Then We sent after them, namely the apostles lefore 
mentioned [who were Sho'eyb and his predecessors], 
Moses, with Our signs unto Pharaoh and his nobles, and 
they acted unjustly with respect to them, dishelieving in 
the signs : but see what was the end of the corrupt doers. 
And Moses said, Pharaoh, verily I am an apostle from 
the Lord of the worlds unto thee. But he charged him with 
falsehood : so he said, I am right not to say of God aught 
but the truth. I have come unto you with a proof from 
your Lord : therefore send with me to Syria the children 
of Israel. — Pharaoh said unto him. If thou hast come with 
a sign confirmatory of thy pretension, produce it, if thou be 
of those who speak truth, So he cast down his rod; 
and lo, it was a manifest serpent.^ And he drew forth 
his hand from his bosom, ; and lo, it was white and radiant 
unto the beholders.^ The nobles of the people of Pharaoh 
said. Verily this is a knowing enchanter : he desireth to 
expel you from your land. What then do ye command ? 
— They answered. Put off for a time him and his brother, 
and send unto the cities collectors [of the inhabitants], 

1 The Arab writers tell enormous that Pharaoh upon this abjured 

fables of this serpent or dragon. Moses by God who had sent him to 

For they say that he was hairy and take away the serpent, and promised 

of so prodigious a size that when he he would believe on Him and let 

opened his mouth his jaws were the Israelites go ; but when Moses 

fourscore cubits asunder and when had done what he requested, he 

he laid his lower jaw on the ground relapsed and grew as hardened as 

his upper reached to the top of the before. — S. (B.) 

palace [or rather, I believe, the ^ There is a tradition that Moses 

throne of Pharaoh]: that Pharaoh, was a very swarthy man; and that 

seeing this monster make towards when he put his hand into his bosom, 

him, fled from it ; and that the and drew it out again, it became 

whole assembly also betaking them- extremely white and splendid, sur- 

selves to their heels, no less than passing the brightness of the sun. — 

twenty-five thousand of them lost S. (B.) 
their lives in the press. They add 



icS SELECTIOyS FROM THE KL'R-AiV. 

that they may liring unto thcG every knowing enchant 
And the enchanters came unto Pharaoh. They sa 
Shall we surely have a reward if we be the party w 
overcome? He answered, Yea; and verily ye shall be 
those who are admitted near [unto my person]. Tli 
said, Moses, either do thou cast down thy rod, or 
will cast down what we have with us. He replied. Cast ; 
And when they cast down their cords and their rods, tl] 
enchanted the eyes of the men, diverting them from 
true perception of them ; and they terrified them ; for tl 
iiiutgined them to he serpents running ; and they perforn; 
a great enchantment. ■■■ And We spake by revelation ui 
Moses, [saying,] Cast down thy rod. And lo, it swalloM 
up what they had caused to appear changed,^ So 1 
truth was confirmed, and that which they had wrou' 
became vain; and they were overcome there, and W' 
rendered contemptible. And the enchanters cast the 
selves down prostrate : ^ they said, We believe in the Lord 
the worlds, the Lord of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh sa 



' They provided themselves with .and cords would not have 

a great number of thicic ropes and appeared.— S. (B.) 
long pieces of wood, which they ^ Sale observes that some wri 

contrived by some means to move introduce only two of the encha.n 

and make tliem twist themselves one as acknowledging Moses' miracli 

over the other ; and so imposed on be Vrought by the power of C 

tlie beholders, wlio at a distance These two, they say, were broth 

took them to be true serpents. It and the sons of a famous magii 

is also said that they rubbed them then dead ; but on their being i 

over with quicksilver, which being for to court on this occasion, t' 

wrought upon by the heat of the sua mother persuaded them to go 

caused them to move. — S. (13.) their father's tomb and ask 

2 The expositors add that when advice. Being come to the to 

this serpent had swallowed up all the father answered their call, 

the rods and cords he made directly when they liad acquainted him ^ 

towards the assembly and put them the affair, he told tliem that f 

into so great a terror that they fled should inform themselves whel 

.■ind a considerable number were killed the rod of wliich they spoke bec! 

in the crowd : then Moses toolc it up a serpent while its masters slept 

and it became a rod in his hand as only when they were awake; 

Vjefore. Whereupon the magiciijns said he, enchantments have no ef 

declared that it could be no enchant- while the enchanter is asleep, 

ment, because in such case their rods tlierefore if it be otherwise in 



J.'ciA\r.s- A.YI) HIS PEOPLE. 109 

IIn\'e ye believed in Him before I have given you 
permission ? Yerily this is a plot that ye have contrived 
in the eity, that ye may eause its inhabitants to go forth 
from it. r>ut ye shall know irJmt shall Jiajiprii loito you at 
my JiauiL I ^rill assuredly cut off your hands and your 
feet on the opposite sides — tJie riijlit Jiand of each and 
hi-^ left foot: then I will crueify you all. — They replied. 
Yerily unto mir Lord shall we return, after our death, of 
irhafever kind it he ; and thou dost not take vengeanee on 
us but because we believed ki the signs of our Lord when 
they came unto us. our Lord, pour upon us patience, 
and cause us to die Muslims I^ (vii 101-123.) 

And Pharaoh said, Let me alone, tliat I may kill j\Ioses, 
[^for they had diverted him from hilling him,) and let him 
call upon liis Lord to defend him from me. Verily I fear 
lest he change your religion, an-d prevent your v.\v&hij)ping 
mt, or that he may cause corruption to appear in the earth 
(that w. glavfiter. aiid other qfenee,^^. — And Moses said 
unto his j)r()/'/(', Imring heard this, Veiily I have recourse 
for defence unto my Lord and your Lord from every 
proud person who believeth not in the day of account. 
And a man [who was] a believer, of the f:unily of 
Phai'aoli {U is said that hf iras the son of his paternal 
unele.Y who concealed his faith, said, "Will ye kill a man 
because he saith, My Lord is God, — when he hath come 
unto you with evident proofs from your Lord ? And if 
he be a liar, on him [will be] the evil consequence of liis 
lie ; but if he be a speaker of truth, somewhat of that 
punishment with which he threateueth }-ou will befall you 
spiedUy. Yerily G-od directeth not him who is a trans- 



case, you may be assured that they ^ Some tliink these converted 

act by a divine power. Xlioso two magicians were executed accordingly : 

n-i;i^ici;^iisthen,arrivingat thecapital but others deny it, and s;^y that the 

of Ejyjit, on inquiry found to their king was not able to put them to 

groat astonishment that when Mosos death; insisting on these words of the 

and Aaron went to rest their rod K.ur-an [xxviii. 3;], 'Ye two, nml 

became a s-orpont and guarded them they who follow you. shall ovir- 

■nhile they slept. And this was thefirst come.' — S. 

slip towards their conversion.— S. '■' Soo p. 101, 1. 5, o. i. 



no SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

gressor, or polytheist, [and] a liar. my people, ye ha 
the dominion to-day, being overcomers in the land 
Egypt ; but who will defend us from the punishment 
God if ye hill This favourite servants, if it come unto us 
— Pharaoh said, I will not advise you to do [aught] sa 
what I see to be advisable, which is, to hill Moses ; and 
will not direct you save into the right way. And he w 
had believed said, my people, verily I fear for you t 
like of the day of the confederates,^ the like of the com 
tion of the people of Noah- and 'Ad and Thamood a: 
those who [have lived] after them : and God willeth n 
injustice unto [His] servants. And, my people, verilj 
fear for you the day of calling {that is, the day of resurr 
tion, when the people of Paradise and those of Hell sh 
often call one to another). On the day when ye shall tu 
back from the place of reckoning unto hell, ye shall have 
protector against God. And he whom God shall cause 
err shall have no director. Moreover, Joseph {who u 
Joseph the son of Jacob according to one opinion, and u 
lifcd unto the time of Moses; and Joseph the son 
Abraham the son of Joseph the son of Jacob, according 
another opinion) came unto you before Moses, with evide 
miraculous proofs ; but ye ceased not to be in doubt : 
specting that wherewith he came unto you, until, wh 
he died, ye said without proof God will by no mea 
send an apostle after him. Thus God causeth to err h 
Avho is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a sceptic. Th 
who dispute respecting the signs of God, without a 
convincing proof having come unto them, their disput'i 
is very hateful with God and with those who have 1 
lieved. Thus God sealeth every heart {or the whole hea 
of a proud contumacious person. 

And Pharaoh said, Haman, build for me a toYi 
that I may reach the avenues, the avenues of the heave 

1 Cp. Act. Apost. V. 38, 39. God destroyed after them.' So 

2 ^ The people of Noah and of 'Ad plained in the K^moos. 
and of Thamood, and those whom 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. ill 

and ascend unto the God of Moses ; ^ but verily I think 
him, namely Moses, a liar in his assertion that he hath any 
god but myself. And thus the wickedness of his deed was 
made to seem comely unto Pharaoh, and he was turned 
away from the path of rectitude; and the artifice of 
Pharaoh [ended] not save in loss. And he who had 
believed said, my people, follow me : I will direct you 
into the right way. my people, this present life is only 
a temporary enjoyment; but the world to come is the 
mansion of firm continuance. Whosoever doeth evil, he 
shall not be recompensed save with the like of it ; and 
whosoever doeth good, whether male or female, and is a 
believer, these shall enter Paradise ; they shall be pro- 
vided for therein without reckoning. And, my people, 
how is it that I invite you unto salvation, and ye invite 
me unto the Fire ? Ye invite me to deny God, and to 
associate with Him that of which I have no knowledge ; 
but I invite you unto the Mighty, the Very Forgiving. 
[There is] no doubt but that the [false gods] to the worship 
of which ye invite me are not to be invoked in this world, 
nor in the world to come, and that our return [shall be] 
unto God, and that the transgressors [shall be] the com- 
panions of the Fire. And ye shall remember, when ye see 
the punishment, what I say unto you ; and I commit my 
case unto God; for God seeth [His] servants. — Thishe said 
when they threatened him for his opposing their religion. 
Therefore God preserved him from the evils which they 
had artfully devised (namely slaughter), and a most evil 
punishment encompassed the people of Pharaoh,2 with 

1 It is said that H^m4n having he impiously boasted that he had 
prepared bricks and other materials killed the god of Moses ; but at sun- 
employed no less than fifty thousand set God sent the angel Gabriel, who 
men besides labourers in the build- with one stroke of his wing demo- 
ing, which they carried to so immense lished the tower, a part whereof 
a height that the workmen could no falling on the king's army destroyed 
longer stand on it: that Pharaoh a million of men. — S. (Z.) 
ascending this tower threw a javelin ^ Some are of opinion that those 
towards heaven, which fell back who were sent by Pharaoh to seize 
again stained with blood, whereupon the true believer, his kinsman, are 



112 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

PliaraoJi himself {namely the drowning) ; then they sha 
be exposed to the Fire morning and evening ; -^ and on tl 
day when the hour [of judgment] shall come, it shall 
said unto the angels, Introduce the people of Pharaoh in' 
the most severe punishment. (xl. 27-49.) 

And the nobles of the people of Pharaoh said unto hii 
AVilt thou let Moses and his people go that they may a 
corruptly in the earth, hy inviting to disobey thee, ai 
leave thee and thy gods ? {For he had made for them litt 
idols for them to worship, and he said, I am your Lord ai 
their Lord ; — and therefore he said, L am your Lord t. 
Most High) He answered, We will slaughter their ma 
children and wiU suffer their females to live : and veri 
we shall prevail over them. And thus they did un 
them; wherefore the children of Israel complained, at 
Moses said unto his people, Seek aid of God, and 1 
patient ; for the earth belongeth unto God : He cause; 
whomsoever He will of His servants to inherit it; ai 
the prosperous end is for those who fear God. They r 
pHed, We have been afflicted before thou camest unto 1 
and since thou hast come unto us. He said, Perha; 
your Lord will destroy your enemy and cause you 
succeed [him] in the earth, and He will see how ye w: 
act therein. — And We had punished the family of Pharac 
with dearth and with scarcity of fruits, that they mig' 
be admonished and might believe. But when good b 
tided them, they said. This is ours : — that is, we deserve it 
— and they were not grateful for it ; and if evil befell thei 



the persons more particularly meant ^ Some expound these words 

in this place : for they tell us that the previous punishment they i 

the said believer fled to a mountaini doomed to suffer, according to 

where they found him at prayers, tradition of Ibn-Mes'ood, which i 

guarded by the wild beasts, which forms us that their souls are in t 

ranged themselves in order about crops of black birds which are € 

him ; and that his pursuers there- posed to hell-fire every morning a 

upon returned in a great fright to evening until the Day of Judgmei 

their master, who put them to death — S. (B.) 
for not performing his command. — 
S. (B.) 



MOSES AXD HIS PEOPLE. 113 

they ascribed it to the ill luck of Moses and those helievers 
who were with him. Xav, their ill luck was only with 
G-od : ffe brought it upon them : but the greater number of 
them know not this. And ther said unto Moses, T\"hfit- 
soever sim thou brinir unto us, to enchant us therewith, 
we will not beUcTe in thee. So he uttered an imprecation 
upon them, and T\^e sent upon them the ilood, which 
entered their houses and reached to the throats of the persons 
sitting, seven dai/s,^ and the locusts, whi<ih ate their com and 
their fruits, and the kummal, or grubs, or a Mnd of tick, 
which sought after what the locusts had left, and the frogs, 
which filed their houses and their food, and the blood in 
their waters ; distinct signs : but they were proud, refusing 
to believe in them, and were a wicked people. And when 
the punishment fell upon them, they said, iloses, siip- 
plicate for us thy Lord, according to that which He hath 
covenanted with thee, namely that He will withdraw from 
us the punishment if we believe: verily, if thou remove 
from us the punishment, we will assuredly believe thee, 
and we will assuredly send with thee the children of 
Israel But when We removed from them the punishment 
until a period at which they should arrive, lo, they brake 
their promise. Wherefore We took vengeance on them, 
and drowned them in the sea, because they charged our 
signs with falsehood and were heedless of themu And We 
caused the people who had been rendered weak, li/ being 
enslaved, to inherit the eastern parts of the earth and its 
western parts,^ which we blessed icith water and trees, 
(namely Si/ria); and the gracious word of thy Lord was 



1 As there is no mention of any also signify' any other muTersal de- 

snch miraculous inundation in the strnction or mortality. — S. 

[so-called] Mosaic wrifeiDgs, some - That is, the land of Syri.'i, of 

haTe imagined this plague to have which the Eastern geographers reckon 

been either a pestilence, or the small- Palestine a part, and wherein the 

pox, or some other epidemical dis- commentators say the children of 

temper. (B.) For the word 'toof an,' Israel succeeded the king ^ of Egypt 

which is used in xhis place, and is and the Anmlekites. — S. (H.) 
generally rendered a 'deluge,' may 



1 14 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

fulfilled on the children of Israel, because they hi 
been patient; and We destroyed the structures whi( 
Pharaoh and his people had built and what they hi 
erected.1 (vii. 124-133.) 

We brought the children of Israel across the sea, ai 
Pharaoh and his troops pursued them with violence ai 
hostility, until, when drowning overtook him, he said, 
believe that there is no deity but He in whom the chi 
dren of Israel believe, and I am [one] of the Muslin 
But Gabriel thrust into his mouth some of the mire of t 
sea, lest mercy should he granted Aim, and said, Now thi 
helievest, and thou hast been rebellious hitherto, and wa 
[one] of the corrupters. But to-day we will raise th( 
with thy lifeless body from the sea, that thou mayest be 
sign unto those [who shall come] after thee. {It is relate 
on the authority of Tbn-'Abbds, that some of the children 
Israel doubted his death ; wherefore he was brought forth 
them that they might see him.y But verily many men a: 
heedless of Our signs. (x. 90-92.) 

And We brought the children of Israel across the set 
and they came unto a people who gave themselves up 1 
the worship of idols belonging to them ; ^ [whereupon] the 
said, Moses, make for us a god (an idol for us to wo: 
ship), like as they have gods. He replied. Verily ye ai 
a people who are ignorant, since ye have requited God 
favov/r towards you with that which ye have said ; for thi 
[religion] in which these are [occupied shall be] destroys 
and vain is that which they do. He said. Shall I seek f( 
you any other deity than God, when He hath preferre 
you above the peoples of your time? (vii. 134-136.) 

^ Particularly the lofty tower by which they knew that it w 

[before mentioned] which Pharaoh he. — S. 

caused to be built, that he might ^ These people some will have 

attack the God of Moses.— S. be of the tribe of Amalek, who 

" The word here translated ' body ' Moses was commanded to destro 

signifying also a 'coat of mail,' some and others of the tribe of Lakhi 

imagine the meaning to be that his Their idols, it is said, were images 

corpse floated armed with his coat of oxen, which gave the first hint to tl 

mail, which they tell us was of gold, making of the golden calf. S. (B.) 



JIOSES AXD HIS PEOPLE. 115 

And T\"e caused the thin clouds to shade you from the 
heat of the sun in the desert, and caused the manna and the 
quailsi to descend upon you, and said. Eat of the good 
things -which We have giren you for food, and dore not 
•up. — But they were nngrateful far the lenejUt, and stored 
i«p/ vrherefore it teas ntt off from them. And they in- 
jured not Us therehi/; but they did injure their own 
souls. (iL 54.) 

[Remember, O children of Israel,] when ye said, O 
Moses, we will not bear patiently the haTing one hind of 
food, the manna and the quoiis; therefore supplicate for 
us thy Loid, that He may produce for us somewhat of that 
which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cu- 
cumbeis and its wheat and its lentils and its onions : — he 
said nnto them, Will ye take in exchange that which is 
woise for that which is better? — ^^ii^ th^ refused to 
recede; therefore he sujiplieated God, and He said, G?*t ye 
dowu into a great city f for ye shall hare therein what 
ye hare asked. — And the marls of abjection and poTerty 
were stamped upon them : so thex charaeteristL-s necessarily 
ielong to them, even if they are rich, as neeessarily as the 
stamjxd coin helongeth to its die; and they returned with 
indignation from God. This was because they did dis- 
believe in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (jj.s 
Zeehariah and John) unjustly: this was because they 
rebelled and did transgress. (iL 58.) 

And rememier when Moses asked drink for Ms people, 
vrho had become thirsty in the desert, and 'We said. Strike 
with thy rod the stone. (It icas the stone that jfled cirai/ 

1 The Eastern writers say these ' Tee aturd here i«sdeied 'a great 

qcails vere of a peenlxar kind to he citr,* namely * misfaii,' ^ zeodeted 

found novheie hat in £1-Yemeii,fiam hy Manaeei and Sale 'Egypt,' and 

whence they weiehnNi^t by a sooth is so ondeistood by many learned 

wind in great nnmheis to the Israel- Aiahs ; hot aeoxdins to a geneial 

lies' eamp in the desert. The Arahs nde, to hare this agniSeatiai it 

eall these birds 'selva,' wiiieh is sfaoold be 'misra:' in some eqaes 

pbinly the same with the Hebrew of the ^nr-an, hovsTer, it it tints 

'salwim.'and say theyhaTesobooe^ written, 
hot are eaten whoI& — &. 



ii6 SELECTIONS FROM THE I^UR-AN. 

luith his garment : i it loas light, square, liJce the head of a 
man, marble or kedhdhdn?) Accordingly he struck it ; and 
there gushed out from it twelve fountains, according to the 
number of the tribes, all men {each tribe of them) knowing 
their drinking-pLice. And We said unto them, Eat ye and 
drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the 
earth, acting corruptly. (ii- S7-) 

Remember also when We obtained your bond that ye 
would do according to that which is contained in the Laiv, 
and had lifted up over you the mountain [namely Mount 
Sinai], pulled if up by the roots and raised it over you when 
ye hud refused to accept the Law, and We said, Receive that 
which "We have given you, with resolution, and remember 
that which is contained in it, to do according the7xto : per- 
ad venture ye will fear the Fire, or acts of disobedience. — 
Then ye turned back after that ; and had it not been for 
the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had 
certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those 
of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, by catching fish, 
when We had forbidden them to do so {and they were the 
people of Uyleh^,) and We said unto them, lie ye apes, 



1 See Sale's note in loc. other part of the inhabitants, who 

^ A kind of soft stone, like dry mud. strictly observed the Sabbatli, used 

3 The story here alluded to, though both persuasion and force to stop 

it occurs among passages respecting this impiety, but to no purpose, the 

Moses and his people, is said to relate offenders growing only more and more 

to a different age and to be as follows : obstinate ; whereupon David cursed 

— In the days of David, some Is- the Sabbath-breakora, and God trans- 

raelites dwelt at Byleh, or Elath, on formed them into apes. It is said, 

the Red Sea, where, on the night of that one going to see a friend of his 

the Sabbath, the fish used to come in that was among them found him in 

great numbers to the shore, and stay the shape of an ape moving his eyes 

there all the Sabbath, to tempt them ; about wildly ; and asking him whether 

but the night following they returned he was not such a one, the ape made 

.into the sea again. At length, some a sign with his head that ifc was he ; 

of the inhabitants, neglecting God's whereupon the friend said to him, 

commandment, catched fish on the Did not I advise you to desist? at 

Sabbath, and dressed and ate them ; which the ape wept. They add, that 

and afterwards cut canals from the these unhappy people remained three 

sea, for the fish to enter, with sluices, days in this condition, and were af tiir- 

which they shut on the Sabbath, to wards destroyed by a wind which 

prevent their return to the sea. The sweptthem all intothe soa.— S. (A. F. ) 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. ii- 

driven away from the society of men. — Thereupon they 
hecamc such, and they perished after three days. — And "We 
made it (namely that punishment) an example unto those 
who were contemporary with them and those who came 
after them, and a warning to the pious. (ii. 60-62.) 

And We appointed unto Moses tliirty nights, at the ex- 
piration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of 
his fasting during them; and they were [the nights of the 
■moTith. oi] Bhu-l-KacuIch , and he fasted during them : but 
when, they were ended, he disliked the smell of his hreath; 
so he used a tooth- stick ; whercupion God commanded him to 
fast ten other nights, that He m.ight speak to Him with the 
odour of his ireath,^ as Re v:hose name he exalted hath said, 
— and We completed them hy [adding] ten nights of Dhu- 
l-Hijjeh : so the stated time of his Lord was completed, 
forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron, at 
his departure to the mountain for the private collocution. Be 
thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and 
follow not the way of the corrupt doers hy agreeing with 
them in acts of disobedience. And when Moses came at 
Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto him without 
an intermediary, he said, my Lord, show me Thyself 
that I may see Thee. He replied. Thou shalt not see Me: 
but look at the mountain, which is stronger than thou ; and 
if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. 
And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain 
(that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of 
His little finger, as related in a tradition which M-Hdkim 
hath verified). He reduced it to powder, levelling it even 
with the ground around it; and Moses fell down in a 
swoon. And when he recovered, he said. Extolled be Thy 
perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the 
first of the believers in my time. — God said unto him, 
Moses, I have chosen thee above the people of thy time 



' His breath before [he used the tooth-stick] I'ad the odour of musk - 
S. (B.) 



iiS SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

[by honouring thee] by My commissions and by My 
speaking %nto thee : therefore receive what I have given 
thee, and be of those who are grateful. And "We wrote for 
him upon the tables of the Law ^ {which were of the lote- 
tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald ; in numler 
seven, or ten) an admonition concerning every requisite 
matter of religion, and a distinct explanation of every- 
thing ; and said. Therefore receive it with resolution, and 
command thy people to act according to the most ex- 
cellent [precepts] thereof. (vii. 138-142.) 

And the people of Moses, after it (that is, after his 
departure for the private collocution) , made, of their orna- 
ments (which they had horrowed of the people of Pharaoh), 
a corporeal calf^ which Es-Sdmiree cast for them,^ and 
which lowed ; for he had the faculty of doing so in eon- 
sequence of their having put into its mouth some dust talcen 
from [beneath] the hoof of the horse of Gabriel ; and they 
took it as a god. Did they not see that it spake not to 
them, nor directed them in the way ? They took it as a 
god, and were offenders. But when they repented, and 
saw that they had erred, which was after the return of 
Moses, they said. Verily if our Lord do not have mercy 
upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those 
who perish. (vii. 146-148.) 



1 It is said that not only the ten which the Israelites had borrowed of 

commandments, but the whole law the Egyptians ; for Aaron, who com- 

was written thereon. — S. manded in his brother's absence, 

- That is, as some understand it, having ordered Es-Sdmiree to collect 

consisting of flesh and blood ; or, as those ornaments from the people, who 

others, being a mere body or mass of carried on a wicked commerce with 

metal, without a soul. — S. (B.) them, and to keep them together till 

^ The person who cast this calf, the the return of Moses, Es-Samiree, un- 

Mohammadans say, was not Aaron derstanding the founder's art, put 

but Es-Samiree, one of the principal them altogether into a furnace, to 

men among the children of Israel, melt them down into one mass, which 

some of whose descendants, it is pre- came out in the form of a calf. One 

tended, still inhabit an island of that writer says, that all the Israelites 

name in the Arabian G'df. It was adored this calf, except only twelve 

made of the rings and bracelets of thousand. — S. (A. F.) 
gold, silver, and other materials. 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 119 

And Moses returned unto his people^ enraged against 
them, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, my people, did 
not your Lord promise you a good true promise, that He 
would give you the Law 1 But did the time of my absence 
seem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from 
your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break 
your promise to me, and, abstain from, coming after me ? — 
They answered. We did not break our promise to thee of 
our own authority ; but we were made to carry loads of 
the ornaments of the people of Pharaoh {which the children 
of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of [requiring 
them for] a wedding, and which remained in their posses- 
sion), and we cast them into the fire, hy order of Es-Sdmiree. 
And in like manner also Es-Samiree cast their ornaments 
which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from 
the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel ; and he pro- 
duced unto them a corporeal calf, of flesh and Hood, which 
lowed, by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give 
life to tliat into which it is put ; and he had put it, after he 
had moulded the calf, into its mouth. And they {namely, 
Es-Sdmiree and his followers) said. This is your god, and 
the god of Moses ; but he hath forgotten his lord here, and 
gone to seek him. God saith. But did they not see that it 
returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them 
hurt or profit ? And Aaron had said unto them, before 
the return of Moses, my people, ye are only tried by it ; 
and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore 
follow me, by worshipping Him, and obey my command. 
They replied. We will by no means cease to be devoted to 
the worship of it until Moses return unto us. Moses said 
after his return, Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou 
eawest that they had gone astray, from following me ? 
Hast thou then been disobedient to my command, by 
remaining among them who worshipped another than God ? 



^ After lie had completed his forty days' stay in the mount, and had re- 
ceived the Law. — S. (B.) 



120 SELECTIONS FROM THE IfUR-AN. 

— He answered, son of my motlier, seize me not by my 
beard {for he had taken hold of his leard with his left hand), 
nor by [the hair of] my bead {for he had talcen hold of his 
hair with his right hand, in anger). Verily I feared lest 
if I followed thee {for a company of those who worshipped 
the calf would inevitably have followed me) thou sbouldst 
say, Tbou hast made a division among the children of 
Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence. Moses said, 
And what was thy motive for doing as thou hast, 
Samiree ? He answered, I saw that which they saw not ;^ 
therefore I took a handful of dust from the foot-marks of 
the horse of the apostle Gabriel, and cast it into the molten 
calf; and thus my soul allured me to take a handful of the 
dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that ivhich had no 
life, that it might have life ; and I saw that thy people had 
demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so 
m/y soul suggested to me that this calf should he their god. 
Moses said unto him, Then get thee gone from among us, 
and [the punishment] for thee during the period of thy 
life [shall be], that thou shalt say unto whomsoever thou 
shall see, Touch me not :—{so he used to wander about the 
desert, and when he touched any one, or any one touched him, 
they both became affected with a burning fever :) and verily 
for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to 
be false. And look at thy god, to the ivorship of which 
thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it : 
then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it 
in the sea. {And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did 
this.) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no 
deity. He comprehendeth all things by His knowledge. — 
Thus, Mohammad, do We relate unto thee accounts of 

^ Or, I knew that which they therefore I made use of the dust of 

knew not — that the messenger sent his feet to animate the molten calf, 

to thee from God was a pure spirit, It is said, Es-S4miree knew the an^el 

and that his footsteps gave life because he had saved and taken care 

to whatever they touched ; being of him when a child and exposed by 

no other than the angel Gabriel, his mother for fear of Pharaoh. — S. 

mounted on the horse of life: and (B., Jelal.) 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 121 

what hath happened heretofore ; and We have given thee, 
from Us, an admonition ; namely the ^ur-dn. (xx. 88-99.) 

And they -were made to drink down the calf into their 
hearts,! {that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as 
drink mingleth,) because of their unbelief. (ii. 87.) 

[Eemember, children of Israel,] when Moses said unto 
his people ivho worshipped the calf, my people, verily ye 
have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves 
the calf as a god; therefore turn with repentance unto 
your Creator from the worship of it, and slay one another : 
(that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal :) this 
will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator. 
And He aided you to do that, sending upon you a tlach 
cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion 
on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand. 
And thereupon He became propitious towards you, accept- 
ing your repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the 
Merciful. (ii. 51.) 

[Eemember also, children of Israel,] when ye said, 
having gone forth with Moses to heg pardon of God for your 
worship of the calf, and having heard his words, Moses, 
we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly : — 
whereupon the vehement sound assailed you, and ye died, 
while ye beheld what happened to you. Then We raised 
you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye 
might give thanks.^ (ii. 52, 53.) 

And Moses chose from his people seventy men, of those 
who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God, at 
the time appointed by Us for their coming to ask pardon 

' The word here rendered 'hearts' ^ The persons here meant are said 
often signifies stomachs ; and if this to have been seventy men, who were 
be its meaning here, the narrative made choice of by Moses, and heard 
agrees with the [so-called] Mosaic the voice of God talking with him. 
account : for Moses ' took the calf But not being satisfied with that, 
which they had made, and burnt it they demanded to see God ; where- 
in the fire, and ground it to powder, upon they were all struck dead by 
and strawed it upon the water, and lightning, and on Moses' intercession 
made the children of Israel to drink restored to life. — S. 
of it.'— Exod. xxxii. 20. 



122 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

for their companions' worship of the calf; and he went forth 
with them ; and when the convulsion (the violent earth- 
quake) took them away (became, saith Ibn-'Aihds, they 
did not separate themselves from their people when the 
latter worshipped the calf), Moses said, my Lord, if Thou 
hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them before my going 
forth with them, that the children of Israel might have 
beheld it and might not suspect me ; and me [also]. Wnt 
Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have 
done ? It is naught but Thy trial : Thou wilt cause to 
err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly 
guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian ; and 
do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us ; for Thou 
art the best of those who forgive : and appoint for us in 
this world what is good, and in the world to come ; for 
unto Thee have we turned with repentance. — God replied, 
I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My 
mercy extendeth over everything in the world ; and I will 
appoint it, in the world to come, for those who fear and 
give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, 
who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate prophet, 
Mohammad, whom they shall find written down with 
them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, hy his name and 
his description. He will command them that which is 
right, and forbid them that which is evil ; and will allow 
them as lawful the good things among those forbidden in 
their law, and prohibit them the impure, as carrion and 
other things, and will take off from them their burden and 
the yokes that were upon them, as the slaying of a soul 
[for an atonement] in repentance, and the cutting off of the 
mark left by impurity. And those who shall believe in 
him and honour him and assist him and follow the light 
which shall be sent down with him, namely the Kur-An, 
these shall be the prosperous. (vii. 154-156). 

And remember when Moses said unto his people, my 
people, remember the favour of God towards you, since 
He hath appointed prophets from among you, and made 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 123 

you princes {masters of servants and other attendants), and 
given you what He hath not given any [other] of the 
peoples (as the manna and the quails and other things), 
my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath 
decreed for you (namely Syria), and turn not back, lest 
ye turn losers. — They replied, Moses, verily there is in 
it a gigantic people, of the remains of the tribe of 'Ad, and 
we will not enter it until they go forth from it ; but if 
they go forth from it, then we will enter. — [Thereupon] 
two men, of those who feared to disobey God, namely 
Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover 
the circumstances of the giants, and upon whom God had 
conferred favour, and who had concealed what they had seen 
of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the 
other chiefs became cowardly, said unto them. Enter ye upon 
them through the gate of the city, and fear them not ; for 
they are bodies without hearts; and when ye enter it, ye 
overcome ; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be 
believers. — [But] they said, Moses, we wHl never enter 
it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy 
Lord, and fight : for we remain here. — Then Moses said, 
my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and 
my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the 
unrighteous people. — God replied. Verily it (namely the 
Holy Land) shall be forbidden them forty years; they 
shall wander in perplexity in the land : and be not thou 
solicitous for the unrighteous people. — Tlie land [through 
which they wandered] ivas [only] nine leagues [in extent]. 
They used to journey dioring the night with diligence ; but 
in the morning they found themselves in the place whence 
they had set forth ; and they journeyed during the day in 
like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become 
extinct, eoccepting those who had not attained the age of 
twenty years ; and it is said that they were six hu,ndred 
thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert ; and mercy 
was their lot : hut punishnunt was the lot of those. And 
Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that Ha 



124 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

would "bring him as near as a stone's throw to the Hi 
Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made 
prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fie, 
against the giants. So he went with those who were Wi 
him, and fought against them : and it was Friday ; a: 
the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made i 
end of fighting against them. (v. 23-29). 

Karoon 1 [or Korah] was of the people of Moses {he w 
the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his matern 
aunt, and he believed in him) ; but he behaved insolent 
towards them; for We had bestowed upon him SU' 
treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a co] 
pany of men endowed with strength, in number, as sot 
say, seventy ; and some, forty ; and some, ten ; and son 
another mimber. Semember when his people {the believt 
among the children of Israel) said unto him, Rejoice n 
exultingly in the abundance of thy wealth ; for God love 
not those who so rejoice ; but seek to attain, by means 
the wealth which God hath given thee, the latter abo^ 
[of Paradise], by expending thy ivealth in the service 
God; and neglect not thy part in this world, to wo 
therein for the world to come; but be beneficent uri 
mankind, by bestowing alms, as God hath been benefice 
unto thee ; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth ; f 
God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have on 
been given it on account of the knowledge that I possei 
For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in t 
law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith, Did he not knc 
that God had destroyed before him, of the generatioi 
those that were mightier than he in strength and w] 
had amassed more abundance of wealth ? And the wicki 
shall not be asked respecting their sins, because Gi 
knoweth them : therefore they shall be sent into the Fire wit 
out a reckoning. And Kdroon went forth unto his peop 

1 This person is represented by the passing them all in opulence that t 
commentators as the most beauti- riches of Karoon have become 
ful of the Israelites, and so far sur- proverb. — S. 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 125 

in his pomp, with his many dependants mounted, adorned 
with garments of gold and silk, wpon decked horses and mules. 
Those who desired the present life said, would that 
we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on 
Karoon in this world ! Verily he is possessed of great 
good fortune ! — But those unto whom knowledge of what 
God hath proviised in the world to come had been given, 
said unto them. Woe to you ! The reward of God in the 
loorld to come (which is Paradise) is better for him who 
believeth and worketh righteousness than that which hath 
leen bestowed on Kdroon in the present world ; and none 
shall receive it but the patient in the service of God. And 
We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up 
him and his mansion,^ and he had no forces to defend 
him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of 
the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished 
for his place the day before said, Aha ! God enlargeth 
provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is 
sparing of it unto whom He pleaseth ! Had not God been 
gracious unto us. He had caused [the earth] to cleave 
asunder and swallow up us ! Aha ! the ungrateful for 
His henefits do not prosper ! (xxviii. 76-82.) 

Remember, [0 children of Israel,] when Moses said unto 
his people (when one of them had been slain, whose murderer 
was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would 
discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him), Verily 
God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said. Dost 

' Moses, as some say, having com- his waist, then to his neek, he cried 

plained to God of a false accusation out four several times, ' O Moses, 

brought against him by ^faroon. He have mercy on me ! ' but that Moses 

directed him to command the earth continued to say, ' earth, swallow 

what he pleased, and it should obey them up ! ' till at last he wholly dis- 

him ; whereupon he said, ' O earth, appeared : upon which God said to 

swallow them up ; ' and immediately Moses, ' Thou hadst no mercy on 

the earth opened under K&roon and K&roon, though he asked pardon of 

his confederates, and swallowed them thee four times ; but I would have 

up, with his palace and all his riches, had compassion on him if he had 

— There goes a tradition that as asked pardon of me but once.' — ■ 

Karoon sank gradually into the S. (B.) 
ground, first to his knees, then to 



126 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

thou make a jest of us ? lie said, I beg God to preserve 
me from being one, of the foolish. So when they knew that 
he decidedly intended [what he had ordered], they said, 
Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us 
what she is ; that in, what is her age. Moi^ch replied, lie 
saith. She is a cow neither old nor young ; hut of a middle 
age, between those two : therefore do as ye are commanded. 
They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may nuuii- 
fest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She 
is a red i cow : her colour is very bright : she rejoiceth the 
beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He 
may manifest to us what she is, ivhether she he a pasturing 
or a working cow ; for cows of the description mentioned 
are to us like one another ; and we, if God please, shall 
indeed be rightly directed to her. [In a tradition it is said, 
Had they not said, 'If God please' — she had not ever hern 
manifested to them.) He rcj)lied, He saith. She is a cow 
not subdued hy work that plougheth the ground, nor doth 
she water the field : [she is] free from defects and the 
marks of work ; there is no colour in her different froiri the 
rest of her colour. They said. Now thou hast brought the 
truth. And ihry sought her, and fownd her in the possession 
of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and 
they hought her for as much gold as her hide would contain.^ 

. 1 Or rather, fawn-coloured ; as are ho had aBked his mother's consent ; 

most of the cows of Arabia. The wliioh when he had obtained, }ie 

word in the original properly signi- returned to the markot-plnco, and 

fies yellow. met the angel, who now offered liitn 

2 The story of this young man is twice as much for the heifer, pro- 

thus related : — A certain man at his vided ho would say nothing of it to 

death left his son, then a child, a his mother; but the young man, 

cow-calf, which wandered in the I'cfusing, went and acquainted her 

«1(-H''rt till he came to age; at whidi with theadditionalofrcr. Tiiewoman, 

time his mother told him the heifer perceiving it was an angel, bid lier 

was his, and bid him fetch her and son go back and ask him what must 

sell her for three pieces of gold, be done with the heifer; whereupon 

"When the young man came to the tlie angel told the young man that 

market with his heifer, an angel in in a little time the children of Israel 

the bliape of a man accosted him and would buy that heifer of him at any 

bid him six pieces of gold for her ; price. — S. (A.F.) 
but he would not take the money till 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 127 

Then they sacrificed her ; but they were near to leaving it 
undone, on account of the greatness of her price. (And in a 
tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, 
He had satisfied them : tut they acted hardly towards them- 
selves ; so God acted hardly towards them.) And when ye 
slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God 
brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal — this is 
the beginning of the story [and was the occasion of the 
order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said. Strike him 
{that is, the slain person) with part of her. So he was struck 
with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with 
her right thigh ; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such- 
a-one and such-a-one slew me, — to the two sons of his %(,ncle. 
And he died. They two [the murderers] were therefore de- 
prived of the inheritance, and were slain.'- Thus God 
raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (the 
proof of His power), that peradventure ye may understand, 
and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able 
to raise to life many souls. Then your hearts became hard, 
ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth, after that, and they 
[were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are 
indeed some from which rivers gush forth ; and of them 
there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water 
issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some 
that fall down through fear of God ; whereai your hearts 
are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become 
humble. But God is not heedless of that which ye do : He 
only reserveth you unto your time. (ii. 63-69.) 

Remember when Moses said to his young man Joshua the 
son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from 
him, I will not cease to go forward untH I reach the place 
where the two seas {the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia) 
meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they 
reached the place where they (the two seas) met they for- 

' The more common tradition brother, who desired to obtain his 
seema to be that the man was mur- property (as his inheritance), or his 
dered by one person, the son of his daughter, or both. (Mir-4t-ez-Zem5,u). 



128 SELECTIONS FROM THE I<:UR-An. 

got their fish : Joshua forgot to take it up, on their depar- 
ture ; and Moses forgot to remind him ; and it made its 
way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the 
water from it. And when they had passed beyond that 
place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on 
the following day, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring 
us our morning-meal : we have experienced fatigue from 
this our journey. He replied, "What thinkest thou? 
When we repaired to the rock to rest at that place, I for- 
got the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the 
devil ; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful 
manner. — Moses said, That {namely our loss of the fish) is 
what we were desiring ; for it is a sign unto us of our find- 
ing him whom we seeh. And they returned by the way 
that they had come, following the footsteps, and came to 
the rock. And they found one of Our servants {namely El- 
Kliidr^) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us {that is 
the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of 
a saint according to another opinion which most of the 
learned hold), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us 
respecting things unseen. — El-Bukhdree hath related a tradi- 
tion stating that Moses performed the office of a preacher 
among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the 
most knowing of men; to which he answered, I: — where- 
upon God hlamed him for this, because he did not refer the 



^ Also called El-Khadir. This my- He is also said to appear frequently 
sterious person, whom the Tulgar and to Muslims in perplexity, and to be 
some others regard as a prophet, and generally clad in green garments ; 
identify with Ily&s (Eliaa or Elijah), whence, according to some, his name, 
and whom some confound with St. — Sale states, in a note on this 
George, was, according to the more passage, that the Muslims usually 
approved opinion of the learned, a confound El-Khidr with Phineas, as 
just man or saint, the Wezeer and well as Elias and St. George, say- 
counsellor of that equally doubtful ing that hia soul passed by a metem- 
personageDhu-l-Karneyn.whosestory psychosis successively through all 
has already been related in this three ; and he adds, that part of 
volume. Bl-Khidr is said to have these fictions they took from the 
drunk of the "Fountain of Life, by Jews, some of whom also fancy 
virtue of which he still lives, and Phineas was Elias. 
will live till the day of judgment. 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 129 

knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him hy revela- 
tion, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas 
meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, my 
Lord, and how shall I meet with him ? He answered, Thou 
shdlt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring- 
vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he 
took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and 
Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came 
to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. 
And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from 
it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea hy a 
hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish sc 
that it became like a vault over it : and when Moses' com- 
panion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish. 

Moses said unto him [namely El-Khidr], Shall I follow 
thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou 
hast been taught, for a direction unto me ? He answered, 
Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how 
canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou 
comprehendest not the knowledge ?^— He replied. Thou 
shalt find me, if God please, patient ; and I wiU not 
disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou 
follow me, ask me not respecting anything : but be patient 
until I give thee an account thereof. And Moses assented 
to his condition. And they departed, walking along the 
shore of the sea, until, when they embarked in the ship 
that passed by them, he {El-Khidr) made a hole in it, by 
pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside hy 
means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. 
Moses said unto him. Hast thou made a hole in it that 
than mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a 
grievous thing. — {But it is related that the water entered 
not the hole.) He replied. Did I not say that thou couldst 
not have patience with me ? [Moses] said. Chastise me 
not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in 
my case. — And they departed, after they had gone forth 
from the vessel, walking on, until, when they found a boy ivlw 



130 SELECTIONS FROM THE JCUR-AN. 

had not attained the age of knonnng right and wrong, playing 
with other children, and he was the tnost teautiful of them 
in countenxtnce, and lie (M-Khidr) slew him, Moses said 
unto him. Hast thou slain an innocent soul, without his 
having slain a soul ? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing. 
— He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have 
palSence with me ? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning 
anything after this time, suffer me not to accompany thee. 
Now hast thou received from me an excuse for thy 
separating thyself from me. — And they departed [and 
proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city 
{which was Antioch i), they asked food of its people ; but 
they refused to entertain them : and they found therein 
a wall, the height whereof was a hundred cubits, which 
was about to fall down ; whereupon he {El-Khidr) set it 
upright with his hand. Moses said unto Mm, If thou 
wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it, since they 
did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food. 
El-Khidr said unto him. This shall be a separation 
between me and thee; hut before my separation f rem, thee, 
I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which 
thou couldst not bear with patience. 

As to the vessel, it belonged to ten poor men,^ who 
pursued their business on the sea ; and I desired to render 
it unsound; for there was behind them a king, an 
unbeliever, who took every sound vessel by force. And as 
to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that 
he would transgress against them rebelliously and im- 
piously : for, according to a tradition related hy Muslim, he 
was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived 
he had so acted ; wherefore we desired that their Lord should 
create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more 
disposed than he to filial piety. And God created for 
them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to 

' Or, as some rather think, E]- ^ They were ten brothers, five of 
Dbulleh, near El-Basrah, or else whom were past their labour by 
Bajarwan in Armenia.— S. (B.) reason of their age. — S. (B.) 



MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE. 131 

a ]prophet, hy means of whom God directed a people to the 
right way. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan 
youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure huried, 
of gold and silver, belonging to them ; and their father 
was a righteous man ; and thy Lord desired that they 
should attaia their age of strength and take forth their 
treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it 
not (namely what hath teen mentioned) of mine own wiU, 
hut hy direction of God. This is the interpretation of that 
which thou couldst not bear with patience. (Chap. xviiL 
59-81.) 



( 132 ) 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 

Hast thou Bot considered the assembly of the children 
of Israel after the death of Moses, when they said unto a 
prophet of theirs, namely Samuel, Set up for us a king, 
under whom we will fight in the way of God 1 He said 
unto them, If fightiag be prescribed as incumbent on you, 
will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They re- 
plied. And wherefore should we not fight ia the way of 
God, since we have been expelled from our habitations 
and our children hy their having heen taken prisoners and 
slain? — The people of Goliath [Jaloot] had done thus unto 
them. — But when fighting was commanded them, they 
turned back, excepting a few of them, who crossed the river 
with Saul [Taloot], as unll be related. And God knoweth 
the offenders. And the prophet begged his Lord to send a 
king; whereupon he consented to send Saul. And their 
prophet said unto them. Verily God hath set up Saul as 
your king. They said. How shall he have the dominion 
over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than 
he, (for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, 
and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,) and he 
hath not been endowed with ample wealth ? He replied. 
Verily God hath chosen him as king over you, and in- 
creased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (for 
he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and 
the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in 
Ttiake,) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He 
pleaseth ; and God is ample in His beneficence, knowing 
with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom. — And their 
prophet said unto them, when they demanded of him a sign 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 133 

in 'proof of his kingship, Verily the sign of Ms kingship 
shall he that the ark shall come unto you (in it were the 
images of the prophets : God sent it down unto Adam, and it 
passed into their possession ; hut the Amalekites took it from 
them hy force : and they used to seek victory thereby over 
their enemy, and to advance it in the fight, and to trust in it, 
as Se — whose name he exalted ! — hath said) ; therein [shall 
be] tranquillity from your Lord/ and relics of what the 
family of Moses and the family of Aaron have left: 
namely, the two shoes (or sandals) of Moses, and his rod, and 
the turhan of Aaron, and a measure of the manna that used 
to descend upon them, and the fragments of the tables [of the 
Law] : the angels shall bear it. Verily in this shall be a 
sign unto you of his kingship, if ye be believers. Accord- 
ingly the angels hore it hetween heaven and earth, while they 
looked at it, until they placed it hy Saul ; whereupon they 
acknoivledged his kingship, and hastened to the holy war ; 
and he chose of their young men seventy thousand. 

And when Saul went forth with the troops from Jeru- 
salem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded 
of him water, he said, Verily God will try you by a river, 
that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear, 
(and it was between the Jordan and Palestine) and whoso 
drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who 
tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who 
taketh forth a draught in his hand, and is satisfied there- 
with, not adding to it ; for he is of my party ; — ^then they 
drank thereof ahuTidantly, excepting a few of them, who 
were content only with the handful of water. It is related 
that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their 
beasts, and they were three hundred and somewhat more 



' That is, because of the great stood by the commentators, may 

confidence the Israelites placed in it, not improbably mean the ' divine 

having won several battles by its presence' or 'glory,' which used to 

miraculous assistance. I imagine, appear on the Ark, and which the 

however, that the Arabic word 'se- Jews express by the same word 

keeneh,' which signifies 'tranquillity' ' Shekinah.'— S. 
or ' security of mind,' and is so under- 



134 SELECTIONS FROM THE ICUR-AN. 

tlmn ten. And when lie had passed over it, he and those 
who believed with him, they (that is, those who had drunk 
[plentifully]) said. We have no power to-day to contend 
against Goliath and his troops. And they were cowardly, 
and passed not over it. They [however] who held it as 
certain that they should meet God at the resurrection (and 
they were those who had passed over it) said. How many a 
small body of men hath overcome a great body by the 
permission (or will) of God ! And God is with the patient, 
to defend and aid. — And when they went forth to battle 
against Goliath and his troops, they said, our Lord, pour 
upon us patience, and make firm our feet, l)y strengthening 
our hearts for the holy war, and help us against the un- 
believing people ! — And they routed them by the permis- 
sion (or will) of God, and David [Dawood, vulg. Daood], 
who was in the army of Saul, slew Goliath. And God 
gave him (David) the kingship over the children of Israel, 
and wisdom (that is prophecy), after the death of Samuel 
and Saul, and they [namely these two gifts] had not 
been given together to any one before him ; and He taught 
him what He pleased,^ as the art of making coats of mail, 
and the language of birds. And were it not for God's 
repelling men, one by another, surely the earth had be- 
come corrupt by the predominance of the polytheists and the 
slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the places of 
worship : but God is beneficent to the peoples, and hath 
repelled sorne by others. (ii. 247-252.) 

^ Sale observes that Yahya most lie was asking questions respecting 

rationally understands hereby the himself as usual, God sent to him an 

divine revelations which David re- angel in the form of a human being, 

ceived from God, and not the art who said, 'An excellent man were 

of making coats of mail. — The cause David if he did not take from the 

of his applying himself to this art is public treasury:' — whereupon the 

,ihus related in the Mir-&t-ez-Zemdn : heart of David was contracted, and 

— He used to go forth in disguise ; he begged of God to render him inde- 

and when he found any people who pendent : so He made iron soft to 

knew him not, he ajiproached them him, and it became in his hands as 

and asked them respecting the con- thread ; and he used to sell a coat of 

duct of David, and they praised him mail for four thousand [pieces of 

and prayed for him ; but one day, as money — whether gold or silver is not 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 135 

Hath the story of the two opposing parties come unto 
thee, Mohammad, when they ascended over the walls 
of the oratory of David, having been prevented going in 
unto Mm hy the door, because of his being engaged in devo- 
tion? When they went in unto David, and he was 
frightened at them, they said, Fear not: we are two 
opposing parties. It is said that they were two parties of 
more than one each; and it is said that they were two 
individuals, angels, who came as two litigants, to admonish 
David, who had ninety-nine wives, and had desired the wife 
of a person who had non» but her, and married her and 
taken her as his wife. ^ [One of them said,] One of us 
hath wronged the other ; therefore judge between us with 
truth, and be not unjust, but direct us into the right way. 
Verily this my brother in religion had nine-and-ninety 
ewes, and I had one ewe; and he said, Make me her 
keeper. And he overcame me in the dispute. — And the 
other confessed him to have spoken truth. — [David] said, 
Verily he hath wronged thee in demanding thy ewe to 
add her to his ewes ; and verily many associates wrong 
one another, except those who believe and do righteous 
deeds : and few indeed are they. — And the two angels said, 
ascending in their [proper or assumed] forms to heaven, 
The man hath passed sentence against himself. So David 
was admonished. And David perceived that We had tried 
him by his love of that woman ; wherefore he asked pardon 
of his Lord, and fell^down bowing himself (cr prostrating 
himself), and repented. So We forgave him that ; and 
verily for him [was ordained] a high rank with Us (that is, 
an increase of good fortune in this world), and [there shall 



said], and with part of this he oh- ^ For David, they say, divided 

tained food for himself, and part he his time regularly, setting apart one 

gave in alms, and with part he fed day for the service of God, another 

his family. — ^ Hence an excellent day for rendering justice to his 

coat of mail is often called by the people, another day for preaching to 

Arabs 'Diwoodee,' i.e., 'Davidean.' them, and another day for his own 

See my translation of ' The Thousand affairs, — S. (B. ) ' 
and One Nights,' chap. viii. note 5. 



136 SELECTIONS FROM THE ^UR-AN. 

be for him] an excellent retreat in the world to come. 
(xxxviii. 20-24.) 

We compelled the mountains to glorify Us, with David, 
and the birds also, on his commanding them to do so, when 
he experienced languor ; and We did this. And We taught 
him the art of making coats of mail (for before his time 
plates of metal were used) for you among mankind in 
general, that they might defend you from your suffering 
in warring with your enemies. — Will ye then, 'people of 
Mehkeh, be thankful /or My favours, believing the apostles ? 
— And We sicbjected unto Solomon [Suleyman] the wind, 
blowing strongly, and being light at his desire, which ran 
at his command ^ to the land that We blessed {namely 
Syria) ; ^ and We knew all things {knowing that what We 
gave him would stimulate him to be submissive to his Lord). 
And We subjected, of the devils, those who should dive for 
him in the sea and bring forth from it jewels for him, and 
do other work besides that ; that is, building, and perform- 
ing other services ; and We watched over them, thai they 
might not spoil what they executed ; for they used, when they 
had finished a work before night, to spoil it, if they were 
not employed in something else. (xxi. 79-82.) 

We gave unto David Solomon his son. How excellent 
a servant was he ! For he was one who earnestly turned 
himself unto God, glorifying and praising Him at all 
times. [Eemember] when, in the latter part of the day, 
after the commencement of the declining of the sum, the 
mares standing on three feet and touching the ground 
with the edge of the fourth foot, swift in the course, were 

• They say that he had a. carpet upon it wherever he pleased ; the 

of green silk, on which his throne was army of birds at the same time 

placed, being of a prodigious length flying over their heads and forming a 

and breadth, and sufficient for all his kind of canopy to shade them from 

forces to stand on, the men placing the sun. — S. 

themselves on his right hand, and the ^ Whither the wind brought 

spirits [or jinn] on his left ; and that back Solomon's throne in the evening, 

when all were in order the wind at after having carried it to a distant 

his command took up the carpet country in the morning. — S. 
and transported it with all that were 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 137 

displayed before Mm. They were a thousand, mares, which 
were displayed before him after he had jperformed the noon- 
jprayers, on the occasion of his desiring to make use of them 
in a holy war ; and when nine hundred of them had been 
displayed, the sun set, and he had not performed the after- 
noon-prayers. So he was grieved, and he said, Verily I 
have preferred the love of [earthly] goods above the 
remembrance of my Lord, (that is, the performance of the 
afternoon-prayers,) so that the sun is concealed by the 
veil. Bring them {namely the horses) back unto me. 
Therefore they brought them back. And he began to sever 
with his sword the legs and the necks, slaughtering them, 
and [then] cutting off their legs, as a sacrifice unto God, and 
gave their flesh in alms ; and God gave him in compensation, 
what was better than they were and swifter, namely the 
wind, which travelledby his command whithersoever he desired. 
— And We tried Solomon by depriving him of his kingdom. 
This was because he married a woman of whom he became 
enamoured, and she used to worship an idol in his palace 
without his knowledge. Sis dominion was in his signet ; 
and he pulled it off once and deposited it with his wife, who 
was named El-Emeeneh ; and a jinnee came unto her in the 
form of Solomon, and took it from her. And We placed 
upon his throne a [counterfeit] body ; namely that jirmee, 
^uho was ^akhr, or another. He sat upon the throne of 
Solomon, and the birds and other creatures surrounded him ; 
and Solomon went forth, with a changed appearance, aiul 
saw him upon his throne, and said unto the people, I am 
Solomon : — but they denied him. Then he returned unto 
his kingdom, after some days, having obtained the signet and 
put it on, and seated himself upon his throne} He said, 



^ After the space of forty days, mon, he found the ring in its belly, 

■which was the time the image had and, having by this means recovered 

been vrorshipped iu his house, the the kingdom, took Sakhr, and, tying 

devil [or jinnee] flew away, and threw a great stone to his neck, threw him 

the signet into the sea: the signet into the Lake of Tiberias. — S. (B., 

■was immediately swallowed by a fish, A.F.) 
which being taken and given to Solo- 



138 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

my Lord, forgive me, and give me a dominion that may 
not be to any one after me (or heside me) ; for Thou art 
the Liberal Giver. So We subjected unto him the wind, 
which ran gently at his command whithersoever he 
desired ; and the devils [also], every builder of wonderful 
structures, and diver that hrought up pearls from the sea, and 
others bound in chains which connected their hands to their 
■necks. And We said unto him, This is Our gift, and bestow 
thou thereof upon whomsoever thou wilt, or refrain from 
bestowing, without rendering an account. And verily for 
him [was ordained] a high rank with Us, and an excellent 
retreat. (xxxviii. 29-39.) 

We bestowed on David and Solomon knowledge in 
judging men and in the language of the hirds and other 
matters ; and they said. Praise be to God who hath made 
us to excel many of His believing servants, ly tlie gift of 
prophecy and by the subjection of the jinn and mankind 
and the devils. And Solomon inherited from David the 
gift of prophecy and knowledge ; and he said, men, we 
have been taught the language of the birds,i and have had 
bestowed on us of everything wherewith prophets and kings 
are gifted. Verily this is manifest excellence. — And his 
armies of jinn and men and birds were gathered together 
unto Solomon, and they were led on in order, until, when 
they came unto the valley of ants, (which [was] at Et- T6jif, 
or in Syria, the ants whereof [were] small or great) an ant 
(the queen of the ants), having seen the troops of Solomon, 
said, ants, enter your habitations, lest Solomon and his 
troops crush you violently, while they perceive not. And 
Solomon smiled, afterwards laughing at her saying, which 
he heard from the distance of three miles, the wind conveying 
it to him : so he withheld his forces when he came in sight 
of their valley, until the ants had entered their dwellings : 
and his troops were on horses and on foot in this expedition. 



^ See note 30 to the Introduction of my translation of tlie * Thousand 
and One Nights.' 



SAUL, DAVID "SOLOMON. 139 

And he said, my Lord, inspire me to be thankful for 
Thy favour which Thou hast bestowed upon me and upon 
my parents, and to do righteousness which Thou shalt 
approve, and admit me, in Thy mercy, among Thy servants, 
the righteous, the, 'prophets and the saints. 

And he examined the birds,i that he might see the lap- 
wing, that saw the water leneath the earth, and directed to it 
hy pecking the earth, whereupon the devils used to draw it 
forth when Solomon wanted it [to perform the ablution] 
for prayer ; hut he saw it not : and he said. Wherefore do 
I not see the lapwing ? Is it [one] of the absent ? — And 
when he was certain of the case he said, I will assuredly 
punish it with a severe punishment, iy plucking out its 
feathers and its tail and casting it in the sun so that it 
shall not he ahle to guard against excessive thirst ; or I will 
slaughter it ; or it shall bring me a manifest convincing 
proof showing its excuse. — And it tarried not long hefore it 
presented itself unto Solomon submissively, and raised its 
head and relaxed its tail and its wings : so he forgave it ; 
and he asked it what it had met with during its absence ; 
and it said, I have become acquainted with that where- 
with thou hast not become acquainted, and I have 
come unto thee from Seba (a tribe of El-Yemen) with a 
sure piece of news. I found a woman reigning over them, 
namsd Bilkees, and she hath been gifted with everything 
that princes require, and hath a magnificent throne. {Its 
length was eighty cubits ; and its breadth, forty cubits ; and, 
its height, thirty cubits : it was composed of gold and silver 
set with fine pearls and with rubies and chrysolites, and its legs 
were of rubies and chrysolites and^ emeralds : upon it [were 

1 The Arab historians tell us arrived by noon at §an'a, and being 

that Solomon, having finished the extremely delighted with the coun- 

Temple of Jerusalem, went in try rested there ; but wanting water 

pilgrimage to Mekkeh, where having to make the ablution, he looked 

stayed as long as he pleased, he pro- among the birds for the lapwing 

ceeded towards El-Temen ; and leav- which found it for him.— S. (B. ) 
ing Mekkeh in the morning he 



140 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

closed] seven doors: to each chamher [through, which one 
passed to it was] a closed door.) I found her and her people 
worshipping the sun instead of God, and the devil hath 
made their works to seem comely unto them, so that he 
hath hindered them from the right way, wherefore they 
are not rightly directed to the worship of God, who 
produceth what is hidden (namely the rain and vegetables) 
in the heavens and the earth, and knoweth what they 
[that is, mankind and others] conceal in their hearts, and 
what they reveal with their tongues. God: there is no 
deity but He, the Lord of the magnificent throne, "between 
which and the throne of Bilkees is a vast difference. 

Solomon said to the lapwing, "We will see whether thou 
hast spoken truth or whether thou art of the liars. 
Then the lapwing guided them to the water, and it was 
drawn forth [by the devils] ; and they quenched their thirst 
and performed the ablution and prayed. Then Solomon 
wrote a letter, the form whereof was this : — From the servant 
of God, Solomon the son of David, to Bilkees the queen of 
Seba. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 
Peace be on whomsoever followeth the right diredimi. 
After [this salutation, I say]. Act ye not proudly towards 
iiu; but come unto me submitting. — He then sealed it with 
musk, and stamped it with his signet, and said unto the 
lapwing, Go with this my letter and throw it down unto 
them {namely Bilkees and her people) : then turn away 
from them, but stay near them, and see what reply they 
will return. So the lapwing took it, and came unto her, 
and around her were her forces ; and lie threw it down into 
her lap ; and when sJie saw it, she trembled with fear. 
Then she considered what was in it, and she said unto the 
nobles of her people, nobles, an honourable (sealed) letter 
hath been thrown down unto me. It is from Solomon; 
and it is this : — In the name of God, the Compassionate, 
the Merciful. Act ye not proudly towards me : but come 
unto me submitting. — She said, nobles, advise me in 
mine affair. I will not decide upon a thing unless ye 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 141 

bear me witness. — They replied, We are endowed with 
strength and endowed with great valour; but the 
command [belongeth] to thee; therefore see what thou 
wilt command us to do, and we will obey thee. She said, 
Verily kings, when they enter a city, waste it, and render 
the mighty of. its inhabitants abject ; and thus will they 
do who have sent the letter. But I will send unto them with 
a gift, and I will see with what the messengers will return, 
whether the gift will he accepted, or whether it will he rejected. 
If he he [merely] a king, he will accept it; and if he be a 
prophet, he will not accept it. — And she sent male and 
female servants, a thousand in equal numbers [five hundred 
of each sex], and five hundred bricks of gold, and a crown 
set with jewels, and musk and ambergris and other things, 
by a messenger with a letter.^ And the lapunng hastened 
unto Solomon, to tell him the news ; on hearing which, he 
commanded that bricks of gold and silver should he cast, 
and that a hwse-course should be extended to the length of 
nine leagues from the place where he was, and that they 
should build around it a wall with battlements, of gold and 
silver, and that the handsomest of the beasts of the land 
and of the sea should he brought with the sons of the jinn 
on the right side of the horse-course and on its left. 

And when the messenger came urith the gift, and with 
Tiim his attendants, unto Solomon, he [Solomon] said. Do 
ye aid me with wealth? But what God hath given 
me (namely the gift of prophecy and the kingdom) is better 
than what He hath given you, of worldly goods ; yet ye 
rejoice in your gift, because ye glory in the showy things 
of this world. Return unto them with the gift tliat thou 
hast brought; for we will surely come unto them with 
forces with which they have not power [to contend], and 

' Some add that Billfees, to try and that Solomon distinguished the 

whether Solomon was a prophet or boys from the girls hy the different 

not, drest the boys like girls and the manner of their taking water, and 

girls like boys, and sent him in a, ordered one worm to bore the pearl, 

casket a pearl not drilled and an and another to pass a thread through 

onyx di-iUed with a crooked hole; the onyx.— S. (B.) 



142 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

we will surely drive them out from it, {that is, from their 
country/, Seba, which was named after the father of their 
tribe,) abject and contemptible, if they come not unto us 
submitting. And when the messenger returned unto her 
with the gift, she 'placed her throne within seven doors, 
within her palace, and her palace was within seven palaces ; 
and she closed the doors, and set guards to them, and pre- 
pared to go unto Solomon, that she might see what he would 
command her to do. She departed with twelve thousand 
kings, each king having with him many thousands, and 
proceeded until she came as near to him as a league's 
distance ; when he knew of her [approach,] he said, 
nobles, which of you will bring unto me her throne before 
they come unto me submitting ? An 'efreet, of the jinn, 
answered, I will bring it unto thee before thou slialt arise 
from thy place wherein thou sittest to judge from morning 
until mid-day ; for I am able to do it, [and] trustworthy 
with respect to the jewels that it compriseth and other 
matters. Solomon said, I desire it more speedily. [And 
thereupon] he with whom was knowledge of the revealed 
scripture {namely [his Wezeer] Asaf the son of Barkhiya, 
who was a just person, acquainted with the most great name 
of God, which ensured an answer to him who invoked there- 
by ^) said, I will bring it unto thee before thy glance can 
be withdrawn from any object. And he said unto him, 
Look at the sky. So he looked at it ; then he withdrew his 
glance, and found it placed before him : for during his look 
towards the sky, Asaf prayed, by the most great name, that 
God would bring it ; and it so happened, the throne passing 
under the ground until it came up before the throne of 
Solomon. And when he saw it firmly placed before him, 
he said. This is of the favour of my Lord, that He may try 
me, whether I shall be thankful or whether I shall be 
unthankful. And he who is thankful is thankful for the 
sake of his own soul, which will have the reward of his 

^ Others, however, suppose it was other angel; and some imagine it to 
El-Khidr, or else Gabriel, or some have been Solomon himself. — S. (B.) 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 143 

thankfulness ; and [as to] him who is ungrateful, my Lord 
is independent [and] bountiful. 

[Then Solomon] said, Alter ye her throne so that it may 
not be known by her, that we may see whether she be 
rightly directed to the hnmoledge thereof, or whether she be 
of those who are not rightly directed to the knowledge of 
that which is altered. He desired thereby to try her intel- 
ligence. So they altered it, hy adding to if, or taking from 
it, or in some other manner. And when she came, it was 
said unto her, Is thy throne like this ? She answered, As 
though it were the same. (She answered them amhiguously 
like as they had questioned her ambiguously, not saying. Is 
this thy throne? — and had they so said, she had answered, 
Yes.) And when Solomon saw her knowledge, he said. And 
we have had knowledge bestowed on us before her, and 
have been Muslims. But what she worshipped instead 
of God hindered her from worshipping Him; for she was 
of an unbelieving people. — It was said unto her also. 
Enter the palace. {It had a floor of white, transparent 
glass, beneath which was running water, wherein were fish. 
Solomon had made it on its being said unto him that her 
legs and feet were [hauy] like the legs of an ass. And when 
she saw it, she imagined it to be a great water, and she 
uncovered her legs, that she might wade through it; and 
Solomon was on his throne at the upper end of the palace, 
and he saw that her legs and her feet were handsome. He 
said unto her. Verily it is a palace evenly spread with 
glass. And he invited her to embrace El-Isldm, [whereupon] 
she said, my Lord, verily I have acted unjustly towards 
mine own soul, by worshipping another than Thee, and I 
resign myself, with Solomon, unto God, the Lord of the 
worlds. And he desired to marry her ; but he disliked the 
hair upon her legs ; so the devils made for him the depilatory 
of quick-lime, wherewith she removed the hair, and he married 
her ; and he loved her, and confirmed her in her kingdom. 
He used to visit her every month once, and to remain with 
her three days ; and her reign expired on the expiration of 



144 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

the reign of Solomon. It is related that he legan to reign 
when he was thirteen years of age, and died at the age of 
three and fifty years. Extolled "be the 'perfection of Him to 
the d'Sration of whose dominion there is no end ! (xxvii. 

IS -45-) 

We subjected unto Solomon the wind, which travelled 
in the morning (unto the period when the sun tegan to 
decline) the distance of a month's journey, and in the even- 
ing from the commencement of the declining of the sun into 
its setting) a month's journey. And We made the fountain 
of molten brass to flow for him three days with their nights 
[in every month], as water floweth ; ^ and the people worked 
until the day [of its flowing], with that which had been given 
■into Solomon. And of the jinn [were] those who worked 
in his presence, by the will of his Lord ; and such of them 
as swerved from obedience to Our command We will cause 
to taste of the punishment of hell in the world to come {or, 
as it is said by some, We cause to taste of its pu/nishmerd in 
the present world, an angel beating them with a scourge from 
hell, the stripe of which burneth them). They made for him 
fvhatever he pleased, of lofty halls (with steps whereby to 
ascend to them), and images (for they were not forbidden by 
his law ^), and large dishes, like great tanks for watering 
camels, around each of which assembled a thousand men, 
eating from it, and cooking-pots standing firmly on their 
legs, cut out from the mountains in M- Yemen, and to which 
they ascended by ladders. And We said. Work, family of 
David, in the service of God, with thanksgiving unto Him 
for ivhat He hath given you : — but few of My servants are 
the thankful. And when We decreed that he (namely, 
Solomon) should die, and he died, and remained standing, 
and leaning upon his staff for a year, dead, the jinn mean- 



^ This fountain they say was in which were set above it ; and that 

El-Yemen. — S. (B.) when he mounted it, the lions 

2 Some say these spirits made him stretched out their paws ; and when 

two lions, which were placed at the he sat down, the eagles shaded him 

foot of his throne; and two eagles, with their wiuga. — S. (B.) 



SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. 



US 



while performing those difficult works as they were accustomed 
to do, not knowing of his death, until the worm ate his staff, 
whereupon he fell down, nothing showed them his death 
but the eating reptile {the worm) that ate his staff.^ And 
when he fell down, the jinn plainly perceived that if they 
had known things unseen (of which things was the death of 
Solomon), they had not continued in the ignominious 
affliction (that is, in their difficult works), imagining that he 
was alive, inconsistently with their opinion tliat they knew 
things unseen. And that the period was a year was known 
hy calculating what the worm had eaten of his staff since 
his death in each day and night or other space of time. 
(xxxiv. 11-13.) 



1 The commentators to explain 
this passage tell ua that David, 
having laid the foundations of the 
Temple of Jerusalem, which was to 
be in lieu of the tabernacle of Moses, 
when he died, left it to be finished by 
his son Solomon, who employed the 
genii in the work ; that Solomon, be- 
fore the edifice was quite completed, 
perceiving his end drew nigh, begged 
of God that his death might be con- 
cealed from the genii till they had 
entirely finished it ; that God there- 



fore so ordered it that Solomon died 
as he stood at his prayers, leaning on 
his staff, which supported the body 
in that posture a full year ; and the 
genii, supposing him to be alive, con- 
tinued their work during that term, 
at the expiration whereof, the temple 
being perfectly completed, a worm, 
which had gotten into the staff, ate 
it through, and the corpse fell to the 
ground and discovered the king's 
death.-S. (B., JeUl.) 



( 146 ) 



JONAH. 

Verily Jonah [Yoonus] was one of the apostles. [Ee- 
member] when he fled unto the laden ship, heing angry with 
his people, lecause the punishment wherewith he had threatened 
them did not fall upon them ; wherefore he emharl-ced in the 
ship ; and it iecame stationary in the midst of the sea : so 
the sailors said, Here is a slave who hath fled from his master, 
and the lot will discover him : — and he cast lots with those 
who were in the ship, and he was [the] one upon whom the 
lot fell. They therefore cast him into the sea, and the fish 
swallowed him ; and he was reprehensible, for having gone 
to the sea, and embarked in the ship, without the permission 
of his Lord. And had he not been of those who glorified 
God (hy his saying often in the helly of the fish, There is no 
god hut Thou ! I extol Thy perfection ! Verily I have 
been of the offenders !), he had remained in his belly 
until the day of resurrection.-' And We cast him on the 
plain land, the same day, or after three or seven days, or 
twenty or forty days; and he was. sick; and We caused a 
gourd plant ^ to grow up over him, to sJiade him. It had a 
trunk, contrary to what is the case of gourds in general, being 
miraculously produced for him.^ And a wild she-goat came 



^ It is said that tlie fish, after it bears very large leaves and excellent 

had swallowed Jonah, swam after the fruit. 

ship with its head above water, that ^ The commentators add that 
the prophet might breathe ; who con- this plant withered the next morn- 
tinued to praise God till the fish came ing, and that Jonah being much con- 
to land and vomited him out. —S. cemed at it God made a remon- 

2 Sale states that some imagine strance to him in behalf of the 

Jonah's plant to have been a fig ; and Ninevites, agreeably to what is 

others, the moz (or banana], which recorded in Scripture. — S. 



yONAH. 



H7 



to him evening and morning, of wJwse milk he drank until he 
hecame strong. And We sent him after that, as before, unto 
his people in Nineveh, in the land of El-Mosil, a hundred 
thousand, or they were a greater number by twenty or 
thirty or seventy thousand ; and they believed on beholding 
the punishment wherewith they had been threatened ; '^ 
wherefore We allowed them enjoyment of their goods for 
a time, until the expiration of their terms of life, (xxxvii. 
139-148.) 



1 When he first began to exhort 
them to repentance, instead of 
hearkening to him, they used him 
very ill, so that he was obliged to 
leave the city, threatening them at 
his departure that they should be 
destroyed "within three days, or, as 
others say, within forty. But when 
the time drew near, and they saw the 
heavens overcast with a black cloud 
which shot forth fire and filled the 



air with smoke and hung directly 
over the city, they were in a terrible 
consternation, and getting into the 
fields, with their families and cattle, 
they put on sackcloth and humbled 
themselves before God, calling aloud 
for pardon and sincerely repenting 
of their past wickedness. Where- 
upon God was pleased to forgive 
them, and the storm blew over. — S. 
(B., Jeliil, A.F.) 



( 148 ) 



EZRA. 

[Hast thou not considered] him who passed by a city 
{which was Jerusalem), riding upon an ass, and having with 
him a hasket of Jigs and a vessel of the juice of grapes (and 
he was 'Ozeyr [Ezra]), and it was falling down upon its 
roofs, Nebuchadnezzar having ruined it 1 He said, wonder- 
ing at the power of God, How will God quicken this after 
its death ? — And God caused him to die for a hundred 
years. Then He raised him to life : [and] He said unto him. 
How long hast thou tarried here ? — He answered I have 
tarried a day, or part of a day. — For he slept in thefiJ-st 
part of the day, and was deprived of his life, and was re- 
animated at sunset. He said Nay, thou hast tarried a 
hundred years : but look at thy food and thy drink : they 
have not become changed by time : and look at thine ass. 
— And he heheld it dead, and its hones white and shining. — 
We have done this that thou mayest know, and that We may 
make thee a sign of the resurrection unto men. And look 
at the bones of thine ass, how We wiU raise them ; then 
We will clothe them with flesh. — So he looked at them, and 
they had hecome put together, and were clothed with flesh, and 
life was breathed into it, and it brayed. Therefore when it 
had been made manifest to him he said, I know that God 
is able to accomplish everything. (ii. 261.) 



( 149 ) 



THE MESSIAH. 

Remember when the wife of 'Imran ^ said, (when she had 
iecome aged, and desired offspring, wherefore she supplicated 
God, and became sensible of pregnancy,") my Lord, verily 
I devote unto Thee what is in my womb, to be dedicated 
to the service of Thy holy house : then accept [it] from 
me ; for Thou art the Hearer of prayer, the Knowet of 
intentions. And 'Imr&n perished while she was pregnant. 
And when she gave birth to it, (namely her daughter ; and 
she was hoping that it might he a boy ; since none hut hoys 
were dedicated,) she said, my Lord, verily I have brought 
forth a female, (and God well knew what she had brought 
forth,) and the male is not as the female, the latter not 
being fit for the, service [of the temple] ; and I have named 
her Mary [Maryam] ; and I beg thy protection for her and 
her offspring from the accursed devil.^ (In the traditions 
[it is said], No child is horn hut the devil hath touched it at 
the time of its hirth, wherefore it first raiseth its voice by 
cryvig, excepting Mary and her son?) And her Lord accepted 
her (that is. He accented Mary from her mother) with a 
gracious acceptance, and caused her to grow with an 
excellent growth, as though she grew in a day as a child 
[generally] groweth in a month. Her mother tooh her to 
the doctors, the keepers of the Holy House, and said, Meceive 



' 'Imran, as observed by Sale, is the ^ Or the devil driven away with 

name of two several persons accord- stones. — See note i., p. 7. 

ing to the Muslims : one was the ' And for this reason, they say, 

father of Moses and Aaron, and the neither of them was guilty of any sin, 

other was the father of the Virgin like the rest of the children of 

Mary. The latter is here meant, and Adam.— S. (Katadeh.) 
his wife's name was Hannah. 



I50 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

ye, this devoted child. And they eagerly desired her, because 
she was the daughter of their chief. But Zechariah said, I am 
more worthy of having her ; for her maternal aunt is with 
me. They however replied. Nay, hut we will cast lots. — 
So they departed {and they were nine and twenty) to the river 
Jordan, and cast their divining arrows on the understanding 
that he whose arrow shoidd become steady in the water and 
rise should he [acknowledged] most worthy of her ; and the 
arrow of Zechariah became steady, and he took her, and 
huilt for her a chamber in the temple, with stairs to which 
no one ascended hut himself. And he used to bring her her 
food and her drink and her ointment ; and used to find 
ivith her the fruits of ivinter in summer, and the fruits of 
summer in winter, as He — whose name he exalted I— hath 
said. And Zechariahi maintained her. Whenever Zechariah 
went in to her in the chamber, he found with her pro- 
visions. He said, Mary, whence came to thee this ? 
She answered, (being then a little child,) It is from God : 
He hringeth it to me from Paradise : for God supplieth 
whom He pleaseth without reckoning. 

Then, when he saio this, and knew that He who was able 
to produce a thing out of its season was able to give a child 
in old age, {and the people of his house had become extinct) 
Zechariah supplicated his Lord, when he had entered the 
chamber to pray in the latter part of the night. He said, 
my Lord, give me from Thee a good offspring {a righteous 
son) ; for Thou art the Hearer of prayer. — And the angels 
{by which is meant Gabriel) called to him as he stood 
praying in the chamber {that is, the temple), saying, God 
promiseth thee John [Yahya], who shall be a verifier of 
[the] Word which cometh from God, (that is, Jesus ['Eesa] ; 
for he is the Spirit of God, and was named [the] Word 
because he was created by the word Be,) and a chief, {or one 
followed,) and chaste, and a prophet, of the righteous. {It 
is related that he neither did any sin nor intended any.) — 
He said, my Lord, how shall I have a son, when old 



THE MESSIAH. iji 

age hatli come upon me, when I have attained the utmost 
age, a hundred and twenty years, and my wife is barren, 
and hath attained the age of eight and ninety ? — He 
answered. It shall ie thus. God will do what He 
pleaseth.- — He said, my Lord, give me a sign. — He 
replied. Thy sign [shall be] that thou shalt not speak 
unto men for three days, except by signal ; but remember 
thy Lord often, and glorify [Him] in the evening and in 
the morning. (iii. 31-36.) 

And he went forth unto his people from the chamber, 
and made a sign unto them, [as though he would say]- 
Glorify [God] in the morning and in the evening as usual. 
And he knew hy his being prevented from speaking unto 
them that his wife had conceived John. And after his birth, 
by some years, God said unto him, John, receive the book 
{that is, the Laiu) with resolution. And We bestowed on 
him wisdom {the gift ■ of prophecy) [when he was yet] a 
child, three years of age, and compassion from Us for man- 
kind, and [a disposition to bestow] alms upon them. And 
he was pious, and dutiful to his parents, and was not 
proud [nor] rebellious toward his Lord ; and peace from 
Us [was] on him on the day when he was born, and on the 
day of bis death, and [shall be] on the day when he shall 
be raised to life. (xix. 12-15.) 

And remember when the angels {that is, Gabriel) said, 
Mary, verily God hath chosen thee and hath purified 
thee and hath chosen thee above the women of the 
peoples of thy time. Mary, be devout towards thy 
Lord and prostrate thyseK and bow down with those who 
bow down : pray with those who pray. — This is [one] of 
the announcements of things unseen by thee : We reveal 
it unto thee, Mohammad ; for thou wast not with them 
when they cast their divining arrows that it might appear 
to them which of them should rear Mary, and thou wast 
not with them when they disputed together as to rearing 
her. — Eemember when the angels {that is, Gabriel) said, 



152 



SELECTIONS FROM .THE KUR-AN. 



Mary, verily G-od promiseth thee [the] "Word from Him, 
■whose name [shall be] the Messiah [El-Meseeh], Jesus the 
son of Mary, honourable in this world ly his prophetic 
office, and in the world to come hy his intercession and 
high stations, and of those admitted near unto God ; and 
he shaL. speak unto men in the cradle, and when of full 
age,^ and [he shall be] of the righteous. — She said, 
my Lord, how shall I have a son, when a man hath not 
touched me ? — He answered. It shall he thus ; God will 
create what He pleaseth : when He determineth a thing. 
He only saith unto it, Be, — and it is. And He wiU teach 
him writing and wisdom and the Law and the Gospel, 
and constitute him an apostle to the children of Israel, in 
youth or after adolescence. And Gabriel breathed into the 
bosom of her shift ; whereupon she conceived ; and those 
events of her history which are related in the Soorat Maryam 
[Kur. xix.] happened. (iii. 37-43.) 

Eelate in the book (that is, the Kur-dn) the history of 
Mary, when she retired from her family to a place towards 
the east, in the house, and she took a veil [to conceal her- 
self] from them; and We sent unto her our spirit Gabriel, 
and he appeared unto her as a perfect man. She said, I 
beg the Compassionate to preserve me from thee ! If 
thou be a pious person, thou wilt loithdraw from me. — He 
replied, I am only the messenger of thy Lord [to inform 
thee] that He will give thee a pure son, endowed with the 
gift of propliecy. She said. How shall I have a son, when 
a man hath not touched me, and I am not a harlot ? He 
answered. Thus shall it be : a son shall be created unto thee 
without a father. Thy Lord saith, This is easy unto Me ; 
and thus shall it be that We may make him a sign unto 
men, showing Our poiver, and a mercy from Us unto him 
who shall believe in him : for it is a thing decreed. — And 

1 That is, between thirty, or scarce attained this age when he was 

thirty-four, and fifty-one : and the taken up into heaven, the commenta- 

passage may relate to Christ's preach- tors choose to understand it of his 

ing here on earth. But as he had second coming. — S. 



THE MESSIAH. 153 

slie conceived him ; and she retired with him [yet unborn] 
to a distant place far from, her family ; and the pains of 
childbirth urged her to repair to the trunk of a palm-tree 
that she might lean against it. And she gave hirth to the 
child, which was conceived and formed and born in an hour.^ 
She said, Oh ! would that I had died before this event, 
and had been a thing forgotten [and] unnoticed ! — But 
he who was below her (namely Gabriel, who was on a 
lower place than she) called to her, Grieve not. God hath 
made below thee a rivulet : and shake thou towards thee 
the trunk of the palm-tree (which was dried-up) ; it shall 
let fall upon thee ripe dates, fresh-gathered : therefore 
eat of the dates, and drink of the water of the rivulet, and 
be of cheerful eye on account of the child : and if thou see 
any one of mankind, ashing thee concerning the child, say, 
I have vowed unto the Compassionate an abstinence from 
speech with mankind respecting him and other matters ; 
therefore I will not speak to-day unto a man after this. 

And she brought him [namely the child] unto her 
people, carrying him. They said, Mary, thou hast 
done a strange thing. sister of Aaron, (he was a right- 
eous man ; and the meaning is, thou who art like him in 
chastity^) thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor 
was thy mother a harlot. Then whence gottest thou this 
child ? — And she made a sign to them, [pointing] towards 
him, [namely the child, as though she would say,] Speak 
ye unto him,. They said, How shall we speak unto him 

' The age of the Virgin Mary at mother: others suppose Aaron the 

the time of her conception was thir- brother of Moses is here meant, but 

teen, or, as others say, ten ; and she say Mary is called his sister either be- 

went six, seven, eight, or nine months cause she was of the Levitical race, 

with him, according to different tradi- (as, by her having been related to 

tions ; though some say the child was Elizabeth, it should seem she was,) or 

conceived at its full growth of nine by way of comparison : others say that 

months, and that she was delivered of it was a different person of that name 

him within an hour after. — S. (B., who was contemporary with her and 

Yahya.) conspicuous for his good or bad 

* Some say the Virgin Mary had qualities, and that they likened her 

really a brother named Aaron, who to him either by way of commenda- 

had the same father but a different tion or of reiJroach. — S. (B., Z., &c.) 



154 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

who is in the cradle, an infant ? He [however] s&id, 
Verily I am the servant of God : ^ He hath given me the 
book of the. Gospel, and hath appointed me a prophet ; and 
He hath made me blessed wherever I shall be, and hath 
commanded me to observe prayer and give alms as long 
as I shall live, and hath made me dutiful to my mother, 
and hath not made me proud [nor] wicked. And peace 
from God [was] on me on the day when I was born, and 
[wOl be] on the day when I shall die, and on the day 
when I shall be raised to life. — This [was] Jesus the son 
of Mary. / have spoken the saying of truth, concerning 
which they {namely the Christians) doubt, saying that Jesus 
is the son of God. It is not [meet] for God to get a son. 
Extolled be His purity from that [imputation] ' When He 
decreeth a thing that He desireth to bring into existence, 
He only saith unto it, Be, — and it is : and thus He 
created Jesus the son of Mary without a father. — And say, 
Verily God is my Lord and your Lord : therefore worship 
ye Him : this is a right way, leading to Paradise. But 
the sects have differed among themselves ; that is, the 
Christians have differed concerning Jesus, as to whether he 
be the son of God, or a deity ivith Him, or the third of three. 
And woe unto them who have disbelieved in that which 
hath been stated, or in other matters, on account of the 
assembly of a great day, the day of resurrection, and its 
terrors. How will they hear, and how will they see, on 
the day when they shall come unto Us in the world to 
come ! But the offenders to-day {that is, in the present 
world) are in a manifest error : they are deaf, so that they 
hear not the truth; and blind, so that they see it not. 
And do thou, Mohammad, warn them {namely the un- 
believers of MehhcK) of the day of sighing {the day of resurrec- 
tion, when the evil-doer shall sigh for his having neglected 

^ These "were the first words having a right to the worship of man- 

which were put into the mouth of kind on account of his miraculous 

Jesus, to obviate the imagination of speaking so soon after his birth. — S, 

his partaking of the divine nature or (B.) 



THE MESSIAH. 155 

to do good in the present world), -when the command for 
their punishment shall be fulfilled, while they (in the present 
world) are in a state of heedlessness with respect to it, and 
while they believe not therein. Verily We shall inherit 
the earth and whomsoever are upon it (the heedless and 
others ; they being destroyed) ; and unto Us shall they be 
brought back to he recompensed. (xix. 16-41.) 

And when God sent him [Jesus] to the children of 
Israel, he said unto them, Verily I am the apostle of God 
unto you ; for I have come unto you with a sign from 
your Lord ; for I will make for you of earth the simili- 
tude of a bird, and will breathe into it, and it shall be a 
biid,^ by the permission (or will) of God ; ^ (and he made 
for them a hat ; for it is the mx)st perfect of birds in make ; 
and it flew, while they looked at it ; but when it had gone 
out of their sight, it fell down dead ;) and I will cure the 
blind from his birth, and the leper; (and he cured in one day 
fifty thousand, by prayer, on the condition of faith ;) and I 
will raise to life the dead, by the permission of God ; (this 
he repeated to deny his divinity : and he raised to life 'Ariz 
[Lazarus] a friend of his; and a son of the old woman, 
and the daughter of the publican; and they lived, and 
children were horn to them ; and Shem the son of Noah, who 
died immediately ;) and I will teU you what ye eat and 
what ye store up in your houses. Verily therein will be 
a sign unto you, if ye be believers. And / have come 
unto you as a verifier of that which was before me, of the 



' It is related in the spurious Gospel about or stood on his hands as he 

of the Infancy of Christ that Jesus ordered them, and also ate and drank 

being seven years old and at play when he offered them meat .and drink, 

with several children of his age, they The children, telling this to their 

made several figures of birds and parents, were forbidden to play any 

beasts of clay for their diversion ; more with Jesus, whom they held to 

and each preferring his own work- be a sorcerer. — S. 
manship, Jesus told them that he 2 fpjjg commentators observe that 

would make his walk and leap ; which these words are added lest it should 

accordingly at his command they be thought Jesus did these miracles 

did. He made also several figures of by his own power, or was God. — 

sparrows and other birds, which flew S. (B.) 



156 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

Law, and to make lawful unto you part of wliat was made 
unlawful to you therein; (and he made lawful to them, of 
fish and fowls, whatsoever is without fin or spur ; and it is 
said that he made lawful all, and that ' part ' is used in 
the sense of ' the whole : ') and I have come unto you with 
a sign from your Lord ; therefore fear ye God, and obey 
me in that which I command you, as to the confession of 
the unity of God and the service of Him. Verily God is 
my Lord and your Lord ; therefore worship Him. This 
is [the] right way. But they accused him of falsehood and 
believed not in him. And when Jesus perceived their 
unbelief, he said, Who [will be] my helpers for God ? 
The apostles ^ answered. We [will be] the helpers of God. 
We have believed in God; and bear thou witness, 
Jesus, that we are Muslims [or resigned]. our Lord, 
we have believed in that which Thou hast sent down of 
the Gospel, and we have followed the Apostle, Jesus; 
therefore write us down among those who bear witness of 
Thy unity and of the truth of Thine apostle. — And they 
(fhat is, the unbelievers among the children of Israel) devised 
a stratagem against Jesus, to slay him treacherously ; but 
God devised a stratagem against them ; for He put the 
likeness of Jesus upon one who intended his slaughter, and 
they slew him ; and Jesus was taken up [into heaven],^ 



1 In Arabic, ' el-^aw^reeyoon ; ' the true etymology seems to be from 

wliich word they derive from ' hira,' the Ethiopic verb 'hawyra,' 'to go;' 

' to be white ' [or rather, ' to whiten ' whence ' hawftrya ' signifies ' one that 

clothes], and suppose the apostles is sent,' a ' messenger,' or 'apostle.' 

were so called either from the candour — S. 

and sincerity of their minds, or be- ^ The person crucified some will 
cause they were princes and wore have to be a spy that was sent to en- 
white garments, or else because they trap him ; others that it was one 
were by trade fullers. — (B., Jel41.) Titian, who by the direction of Judas 
According to which last opinion, their entered in at a window of the house 
vocation ia thus related : That as where Jesus was ; to kUl him ; and 
Jesus passed by the sea-side, he saw others that it was Judas himself, 
some fullers at work, and, accosting who agreed with the rulers of the 
them, said, ' Ye cleanse these clothes, Jews to betray him for thirty pieces 
but cleanse not your hearts ; ' upon of silver, and led those who were 
which they believed on him. Kut sent to take him,— They add, that 



THE MESSIAH. 



157 



and God is the best of those who devise stratagems. . . 
It is related that God sent a cloud to Jesus, and it took him 
up ; hut his mother clung unto him and wept : whereupon 
he said unto her. Verily the resurrection will unite us. — It 
is also related that he will descend shortly hefore the resur- 
rection and judge according to the law of our prophet 
[Mohammad]; slay Antichrist and the swine, break the 
cross, and impose the capitation-tax [on unbelievers]. — 
Also, that he will remain, according to one tradition, seven 
years ; according to another, forty years ; and die, and he 
prayed over : hut it is prohdble that [by the latter period] 
is meant the whole time of his tarrying upon the earth, he- 
fore the ascension and after. (iii. 43—47.) 

Rememher when the apostle said, Jesus, son of Mary, 
is thy Lord able to cause a table to descend unto us from 
heaven ? ^ He replied. Fear God, in demanding signs, if 



Jesus, after his cruciiixion in e^gy, 
was sent down again to tlie earth to 
comfort his mother and disciples and 
accquaint them how the Jews were 
deceived, and was then taken up a 
second time into heaven. 

It is supposed by several that 
this story was an original invention 
of Mohammad's ; but they are cer- 
tainly mistaken : for several sectaries 
held the same opinion long before 
his time. The BasUidians, in the 
very beginning of Christianity, denied 
that Christ himself suffered, but 
[asserted] that Simon the Oireneau 
was crucified in his place. . The 
Corinthians before them, and the 
Carpocratians next (to name no more 
of those who affirmed Jesus to have 
been a mere man), did believe the 
same thing, that it was not himself, 
but one of his followers, very like 
him, that was crucified. Photius 
tells us that he read a book entitled 
'The Journeys of the Apostles,' re- 
lating the acts of Peter, John, 
Andrew, Thomas, and Paul ; and 



among other things contained therein 
this was one, that Christ was not 
crucified, but another in his stead, 
and that therefore he laughed at his 
crucifiers, or those who thought they 
had crucified him. — S. 

^ This miracle is thus related by 
the commentators, Jesus having at 
the request of his followers asked it 
of God, a red table immediately de- 
scended in their sight between two 
clouds and was set before them ; 
whereupon he rose up, and, having 
made the ablution, prayed, and then 
took off the cloth which covered the 
table, saying, 'In the name of God, 
the best provider of food.* "What the 
provisions were with which the table 
was furnished is a matter wherein 
the expositors are not agreed. One 
will have them to be nine cakes of 
bread and nine fishes ; another, bread 
and flesh ; another, all sorts of food 
except flesh; another, all sorts of 
food except bread and flesh ; another, 
all except bread and fish ; another, 
one fish which had the taste of all 



158 



SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 



ye "be believers. They said, We desire that we may eat 
therefrom, and that our hearts may be at ease in conse- 
quence of additional evidence, and we may know, with 
increased knowledge^ that thou, hast spoken truth unto us 
in asserting thyself to he a prophet, and may be witnesses 
thereof. — Jesus the son of Mary said, God, our Lord, 
cause a table to descend unto us from heaven, that it 
(namely the day of its descent) may be unto us a festival,^ 
unto the first of us and the last of us {or those who shall 
come after us), and a sign from Thee of Thy power, and of 
my prophetic office ; and provide us with food thereby ; for 
Thou art the best of providers. — God said, in reply to 
him, Verily I will cause it to descend unto you ; but 
whosoever of you shall disbelieve after its descent, I will 
surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I will 
not punish any [other] of the peoples. — And the angels 



manner of food ; another, fruits of 
Paradise : but the most received tra- 
dition is that when the table was 
uncovered there appeared a fish 
ready dressed, without scales or 
prickly fins, dropping with fat, having 
salt placed at its head, and vinegar at 
its tail, and round it all sorts of herbs 
except leeks, and fi.ve loaves of bread, 
on one of which there were olives, on 
the second honey, on the third butter, 
on the fourth cheese, and on the fifth 
dried flesh. They add that Jesus 
at the request of the apostles showed 
them another miracle by restoring 
the fi^h to life and causing its scales 
and fins to return to it ; at which 
the standers-by being affrighted, he 
caused it to become as it was -before : 
that one thousand three hundred men 
and women, all a£Q.icfced with bodily 
infirmities or poverty," ate of these 
provisions and were satisfied, the 
fi^h remaining whole as it was at the 
first : that then the table flew up to 
heaven in the sight of all ; and every 
one who had partaken of this food 
were delivered from their infirmities 



and misfortunes : and that it con- 
tinued to descend for forty days to- 
gether, at dinner-time, and stood on 
the ground till the sun declined, and 
was then taken up into the clouds. 
Some of the Mohammadan writers 
are of opinion that this table did not 
really descend, but it was only a, 
parable ; but most think that the 
words of the Kur-an are plain to the 
contrary. A further tradition is 
that several men were changed into 
swine [and apes] for disbelieving this 
miracle and attributing it to magic 
art ; or, as others pretend, for steal- 
ing some of the victuals from oflc it. 
Several other fabulous circumstances 
are also told, which are scarce worth 
transcribing. — S. (B.) 

^ Some say the table descended 
on a Sunday, which was the reason 
of the Christians' observing that day 
as sacred. Others pretend this day 
is still kept among them as a. very 
great festival ; and it seems as if the 
story had its rise from an imperfect 
notion of Christ's last supper and 
the institution of the Eucharist.— S. 



THE MESSIAH. 



159 



descended -with it from heaven, : upon it were seven cakes of 
hread and seven fishes ; and they ate of them until they 
were satisfied. And in a tradition related hy Iln-'AVbas 
it is said that the table brought down from heaven bread 
and flesh, and they were commanded not to act deceitfully, 
nor to store up for the morrow ; but they [that is, some of 
the people] did so, and were transformed into apes and 
swine. (v. 1 1 2— 1 1 5.) 

Propound unto them, as an example, the inhabitants 
of the city of Antioch, when the apostles of Jesus came 
unto it -j^ when We sent unto them two,^ and they charged 



1 To explain this passage, the 
commentators tell the following story: 
— The people of Antioch being idol- 
aters, Jesus sent two of his disciples 
thither to preach to them ; and when 
they drew near the city, they found 
Habeeb, surnamed En-Nejj4r, or The 
Carpenter, feeding sheep, and ac- 
quainted him with their errand; 
whereupon he asked them what proof 
they had of their reraoity, and they 
told him they could cure the sick 
and the blind and the lepers ; and to 
demonstrate the truth of what they 
said they laid their hands on a cbUd 
of his who was sick and immedi- 
ately restored him to health. Habeeb 
was convinced by this miracle and 
believed ; after which they went into 
the city and preached the worship of 
one true God, curing a great number 
of people of several infirmities ; but 
at length, the affair coming to the 
prince's ear, he ordered them to be 
imprisoned for endeavouring to se- 
duce the people. When Jesus heard 
of this, he sent another of his dis- 
ciples, generally supposed to have 
been Simon Peter ; who, coming to 
Antioch, and appearing as a zealous 
idolater, soon insinuated himself into 
the favour of the inhabitants and of 
their prince, and at length took an 
opportunity to desire the prince would 
order the two persons who, as he was 



informed, had been put in prison for 
broaching new opinions to be brought 
before him to be examined ; and ac- 
cordingly they were brought : when 
Peter, having previously warned them 
to take no notice that they knew him, 
asked them who sent them ; to which 
they answered, God, who had created 
all things and had no companion. 
He then required some convincing 
proof of their mission, upon which 
they restored a blind person to his 
sight and performed some other 
miracles, with which Peter seemed 
not to be satisfied, for that according 
to some he did the very same mir- 
acles himself, but declared that if 
their God could enable them to raise 
the dead he would believe them ; 
which condition the two apostles ac- 
cepting, a lad was brought who had 
been dead seven days, and at their 
prayers he was raised to life ; and 
thereupon Peter acknowledged him- 
self convinced, and ran and de- 
molished the idols, a great many of 
the people following him and em- 
bracing the true faith ; but those who 
believed not were destroyed by the 
cry of the angel Gabriel. — S. (B., Z., 
&c.) 

2 Some say these two were John 
and Paul ; but others name different 
persons. — S. 



i6o SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

them with falsehood ; wherefore We strengthened fhem, 
with a third ; ^ and they said, VerUy we are sent unto 
you. They replied, Ye are not [aught] save men like us, 
and the Compassionate hath not revealed anything : ye 
do nothing but lie. They said, Our Lord knoweth that 
we are indeed sent unto you ; and naught is imposed on 
us but the delivering of a plain message, shown to he true 
hy manifest proofs, namely the cure of him who hath heen 
lorn Hind and of the leper and the sick, and the raising of 
the dead. [The people of Antioch] said, Verily we pre- 
sage evil from you ; for the rain is withheld from us on your 
account : if ye desist not, we will assuredly stone you, 
and a painful punishment shall surely betide you from us. 
[The apostles] replied. Your evil luck is with you because 
of your unbelief. If ye have been warned, will ye presage 
evil and disbelieve ? ISTay, ye are an exorbitant people. — 
And there came from the furthest part of the city a man 
(namely ffabeeb the carpenter, who had believed in the 
apostles) running: he said, my people, follow the 
apostles : follow those who ask not of you a recompense, 
and who are rightly directed. And it was said unto 
him, Art thou of their religion ? He replied, And 
why should I not worship Him who hath created me, and 
unto whom ye shall be brought back after death ? Shall 
I take deities beside Him ? If the Compassionate be 
pleased to afflict me, their intercession wiU not avert from 
me aught, nor wUl they deliver. Verily, in that case {if I 
worshipped ought but God), I should be in a manifest 
error. Verily I believe in your Lord ; therefore hear 
ye me. — But they stoned him, and he died ; ^ and it was 
said unto him at his death. Enter thou into Paradise. 
And it is said that he entered it alive. He said, would 
that my people knew my Lord's forgiveness of me and 
His having made me [one] of those who are honoured ? — 

' Simon Peter. Antiooh, and is much visited by tha 

^ His tomb is still showu near Moh.immadans, — S. 



THE MESSIAH. i6l 

And We sent not down against his people after Mm {tliat 
is, after Ms death) an army of angels from heaven to 
destroy them, nor were We sending down aTigels to destroy 
any one. It (namely their punishment) was naught but 
one cry which Gabriel uttered against them ; and lo, they 
were extinct. (xxxvi. 12-28.) 

We have cursed the Jews ... for their disbelief in Jesus 
and their uttering against Mary a great calumny and 
their saying, We have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son 
of Mary, the apostle of God, — Yet they killed him not 
nor crucified him ; but one {namely the person whom they 
crucified) was made to appear to them like Jesus ; and 
verily those who disagreed respecting him were in doubt 
concerning him, or his slaughter ; for some of them said, 
when they saw the slain person, Tlie face is the face of 
Jesus ; hut the lody is not his body : — and others said. It 
is he : ^ — they had no knowledge of him ; but only 
followed an opinion. And they did not really kill hiTn ; 
but God took binn up unto Himself; and God is mighty 
[and] wise. And there is not of the people of the 
Scripture one but he shall assuredly believe in him 
(namely Jesus) before his death ; that is, before his own 
death, or before the death of Jesus, when he descendeth shortly 
before the resurrection ; ^ and on the day of resurrection 

^ Also some said he was taken up the angels ■will strike him on the 

into heaven ; and others, that his back and face, and say to him, ' O 

manhood only suffered, and that his thou enemy of God, Jesus was sent 

godhead ascended into heaven. — S. as a prophet unto thee, and thou 

(B. ) didst not believe on him ; ' to which 

2 Some, referring the relative his he will answer, 'I now believe him 

to the first antecedent, take the to be the servant of God : ' and to 

meaning to be that no Jew or Chris- a dying Christian they will say, 

tian shall die before he believes in 'Jesus was sent as a prophet unto 

Jesus ; for they say that when one thee, and thou hast imagined him to 

of either of those religions is ready to be God, or the son of God ; ' where- 

breathe his last, and sees the angel of upon he wUl believe him to be the 

death before him, he shall then be- servant of God only and His apostle. 

lieve in that prophet as he ought, — Others, taking the above-mentioned 

though his faith will not then be of relative to refer to Jesus, suppose the 

any avail. According to a tradition intent of the passage to be that all 

of El-Hajj4j, when a Jew is expiring Jews and Christians in general [the 

L 



1 62 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

he (namely Jesus) shall be a witness against them 

(iv. ISS-IS7-) 

When God shall say, on the day of resurrection, 
Jesus, son of Mary, hast thou said unto men, Take me 
and my mother as two deities, beside God ? — Jesus shall 
answer, after heing agitated {or after it shall have thun- 
dered), Extolled be Thy purity /rom the imputation of au^ht 
that is unsuitable to Thee, as the having a partner, and other 
things ! It is not for me to say that which is not right 
for me. Had I said it, Thou hadst known it. Thou 
knowest what is in me ; but I know not what is in 
Thee ; for Thou well-knowest things unseen. I said not 
unto them aught but that which Thou commandedst me ; 
namely Worship ye God, my Lord and your Lord ; — and 
I was a watcher over them, commanding them to abstain 
from what they said, while I remained among them : but 
since Thou hast taken me to Thyself,^ Thou hast been the 
watcher over them, and Thou art the witness of all 
things. If Thou punish them, (that is, such of them as 
have continued in unbelief) they are Thy servants and 
Thou mayest do with them as Thou pleasest ; and if Thou 
forgive them, (that is, such of them as have believed,) Thou 
art the Mighty, the Wise. (v. 1 16-1 18.) 

When the son of Mary was proposed as an instance 
(when the saying of God was revealed. Verily ye and what 
ye worship beside God [shall be] fuel of hell [Kur. xxi. 
98], and the polytheists said. We are content for our gods 
to be with Jesus, for he hath been worshipped beside God^) 

dead being raised to life in their him' signify 'believe in God.'] — S. 

graves] shall have a right faith in (B., Z., Jelil, &c.) 

that prophet before his death, that ^ It is a dispute among the 

is, when he descends from heaven and Mohammadans whether Christ actu- 

returns into the world, where he id ally died or not before his assump- 

to kill Antichrist and to establish tion. — S. (B.) 

the Mohammadan religion and a most ^ Some, however, are of opinion 
perfect tranquillity and security on it [this passage] might have been re- 
earth [where he will remain forty vealed in answer to certain idolaters, 
years, and then die. — Others again who said that the Christiai^s, who 
suppose that the words 'believe in received the Scriptures, worshipped 



THE MESSIAH. 163 

lo, thy people, the polytheists, cried out inj&y thereat, and 
they said, [Are] our gods better, or [is] he ? IV,: are con- 
tent for (mr gods to he with him. — They proposed not it 
(namely the instance) unto thee otherwise than as a cause 
of dispute (hnoicing that the word Hchat' applidh. to that 
which is not indvicool with reason; so that it doth not Tof.ect 
wjaon J- sits, on whom be peace !) : yea, they are a conten- 
tious people. He (namoli/ Josus) is no other than a 
servant whom "We faToured ivith the gift of prophecy ; and 
We proposed him, hif reason of a a having come into existence 
without a father, as an instance of the divine pmcer unto 
the children of IsiaeL And if "VTe pleased. ^Ye -n-ould 
substitute for you angels to succeed in the earth.^ And 
Yerily he {namely Jenis) shall he a jign of the [last] 
hour : ' it shall he known hy A is deseending ; ■wheret'Te 
doubt not thereof. — ^And say unto them, Follcw ye me in 
cmfessing the unity of God : this, wh ieh I command you to 
follow, is a right way. And let not the devil turn you 
away from the religion of Gad ; for he is unto you a mani- 
fest enemy. — And -when Jesus came with manifest proofs 
{jmth miracles and ordinances'), he said, I have c^.^me unto 
you with wisdom (jcith- projjiiecy and with the ordinances 
of the Gospel), and to explain unto you part of [the things] 
concerning which ye ilisagTee : therefore fear ye God, and 

Jesus, supposing him xo be uhe son of named PAfcabet] Afeek, witb a lance 

God ; whereas the angels were more in his hand, wherewith he is to kill 

worthy of th&t hoaoor than he. — S. Antichrist, whom he wfll encounter 

(B.) at Lndd, or Lv'.lda, a small town not 

1 .Vs easily 3.5 we prodnced Jesus fsr from Joppa. They add tliat he 

without a father fR]. The intent of wijl arrive at Jemsalem at the time 

the words is to show how jtist and of morning-prayer, that he sli^ul per- 

reasonable it is to think that the form his devoti.iris after the 3Iolij,ni- 

angels should bear the relation of madan institution, and <^ciate in- 

children to men rather than to God, stead of the Imam, who shall givi 

they being His creatures as well 0.3 place to him; that he will breaJc 

men, and equally in His power. — S. down the cross, and destroy the 

- F'.r some dme before the resur- churches of the Christiaiis, of whom 

rection Jesus is to descend on earth he will also make a general slaughter. 

according to the Mohanamadans near eiceptiug only such as -ball profess 

Damascus, or as some s.iy near a EI-LiIau:, — S. (B.) 
rock for rather a. monntaiu-roiid] 



1 64 SELECTIONS FROM THE KUR-AN. 

obey me. Verily God is my Lord and your Lord ; 
wherefore ■worship ye Him : this is a right way. — But 
the parties disagreed among themselves respecting Jesus, 
wluther he were God, or the son of God, or the third of three : 
and woe unto them that transgressed in that which they 
said respectiiig Jesus, because of the punishment of an 
afOicting day ! (xliii. 57-65.) 

Verily the similitude of Jesus in the sight of 
God is as the similitude of Adam. He "created him 
{Adam) of earth : then He said unto him, Be, — and he 
was. In like manner he said unto Jesus, Be, without a 
father, — and he was. This is the truth from thy Lord : 
therefore be not thou of those who doubt. And whosoever 
of the Christians argueth with thee respecting him, after 
the knowledge that hath come unto thee concerning him, 
say. Come ye, let us call our sons and your sons and our 
wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselves will 
assemble : then we will invoke, and will lay the curse of 
God on those who lie, saying, God, curse the liar respect- 
ing the nature of Jesus ! — And the prophet invited a 
comp) any from Nejrdn to do so, when they had argued with 
him respecting Jesus ; and they said, [Wait] until we con- 
sider our case : then we will come unto thee. And their 
counsellor said. Ye know his prophetic office, and that no 
people have execrated a prophet hut they have perished. 
They however quieted the man, and departed, and came 
imto the prophet. And he had come forth, having with him 
El-Hasan and El-Hoseyn and Fdtimeh and 'Alee ; and he 
said unto them, TJ^en I pray, say ye Amen. But they 
refused to execrate, and made peace with him on the condition 
of their paying tribute. — VerUy this is indeed the true 
history, and there is no deity but God, and verily God is 
indeed the Mighty, the Wise. (iii. 52-55.) 

people of the Scripture {that is, of the Gospel), exceed 
not the just bounds in your religion,^ nor say of God 

1 Either by rejecting and contemning Jesua, as the Jews do ; or raising 



THE MESSIAH. 165 

[aught] but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of 
Mary, [was] only the apostle of God, and His Word, which 
he transmitted unto Mary, and a spirit (^hat is, a heing 
possessing a spirit) from Him. (He is mentioned in con- 
junction with God, in order to show him honour, and is not, 
as ye assert, the son of God, or a God with Him, or the third 
of three; for the heing possessing a spirit is compound, and 
the Deity must he confessed to he pure from the imputation 
of composition and the relationship of a compound heing to 
Him) Therefore helieve in God and His apostles, and 
say not. There are three gods, God and Jesus and his 
mother} Abstain from this, and say what will he better 
for you ; that is, assert the unity of God. God is only one 
god. ExtoUed be His purity from the imputation of His 
having a son ! To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the 
heavens and whatsoever is in the earth : and God is a 
sufficient witness thereof. The Messiah doth not disdaiu 
to be a servant unto God, nor do the angels who are 
admitted near MMto ^m. (iv. 169, 170.) 

him to an equality witli God, as do Trinity to be composed of those three; 

the Christians. — S. (B.) but it is allowed that this heresy has 

' For the Eastern writers mention been long since extinct. — S. 
a sect of Christians which held the 



INDEX or CHAPTERS. 



I. 


(entire) 


II. 


1-6 


)) 


7-19 


)» 


21-2 


J) 


28-31 


JJ 


33-7 


>> 


51 


)3 


S2-3 


It 


54 


>> 


57 


»» 


58 


S) 


59 


».J 


60-2 


J) 


63-9 


»J 


87 


)> 


lOO-I 


J) 


118-20 


S) 


130 


JJ 


133-4 


>5 


141 


JJ 


158-60 


J) 


160-2 


J» 


166 


)» 


172 


»> 


191 


)> 


247-52 


J> 


256 


»> 


260 


)) 


261 


»> 


262 


>J 


26S 


}> 


266-7 


»t 


273 


)» 


280 


[II. 


12-15 


J> 


25-6 


)» 


31-6 


J> 


37-43 


)* 


43-7 


>* 


52-5 



PAGE 

3 

4 

41-2 

19 

49-50 

51-2 
121 
121 

"5 
115-6 

"5 

38 
1 16-7 

125-7 
121 

19 

73-5 

47-8 

15 

16 

8 

30-1 

38 

35 

32 

132-4 

5 

70-1 

148 

73 

36 

36 

36 

37 

29 

6 

149-51 

1 5 1-2 

1 55-7 
164 



CHAP 




PAGE 


CHAP 




PAGE 


III. 


58-60 


75-6 


X. 


38-40 


19 


j> 


79 


38 


J» 


90-2 


114 


It 


138 


14 


JJ 


100 


32 


)» 


139 


32 


XI. 


27-36 


55-6 


)} 


148 


32 


)* 


38 


56 


II 


163-5 


30 


It 


38-46 


56-8 


n 


179-80 


16 


II 


47-50 


58-9 


IV. 


51 


lO-II 


J» 


72-8 


71 


II 


80-1 


32 


»> 


84 


72 


II 


88 


37 


»> 


85-98 


95-6 


It 


123 


3° 


XII. 


4-22 


77-80 


)j 


144 


. 31 


It 


35-50 


80-2 


»> 


1 55-7 


161-2 


J» 


54-102 


82-92 


)» 


161 


14 


xin. 


13-4 


9 


»j 


169-70 


164-5 


XIV. 


26-7 


31 


V. 


23-9 


122-4 


XV. 


6-15 


17 


)) 


30-5 


53-4 


)) 


16-25 


7 


tl 


56, 62- 


3 42 


XVI. 


92 


34 


II 


85-6 


40-1 


II 


103-5 


20 


tl 


112-5 


157-9 


XVII. 


90-8 


18 


11 


116-8 


162 


XVIIL 


28-30 


27 


Tl. 


50 


14 


It 


31-42 


39-40 


jj 


59-64 


10 


It 


45-7 


27 




74-82 


66-7 


It 


59-81 


127-31 


1/ 


95-103 


8-9 


»» 


82-101 


63-5 


It 


108 


36 


>» 


109 


20 


>j 


109-11 


16-7 


>j 


no 


14 


VII 


10-17 


50-1 


XIX. 


12-15 


151 


)) 


22 


51 


J» 


16-41 


152-5 


It 


52 


6 


9> 


42-51 


67-8 


jj 


63-70 


60-1 


)J 


91-6 


II 


j> 


71-7 


6l-2 


XX. 


8-50 


103-7 


T* 


101-23 


107-9 


It 


88-99 


119-21 


It 


124-33 


1 12-4 


XXI. 


26-30 


.„ 33 


It 


134-6 


114 


91 


52-75 


68-70 


*> 


138-42 


1 1 7-8 


>J 


79-82 


136 


It 


146-8 


118 


xxir. 


72 


II 


*> 


154-6 


1 2 1-2 


XXIV. 


39-40 


39 


»» 


186-8 


31 


XXV. 


64-75 


43 


IX 


18 


36 


XXVII. 


15-45 


138-44 



1 68 



INDEX OF CHAPTERS. 



CHAP, 




PAGE 


CHAP, 




PAGE 


iXVIII. 


21-8 


97-103 


XL. 


27-49 


109-12 


>> 


76-82 


I24-S 


XLI. 


34-5 


37 


XXIX. 


40-3 


12 


XLin. 


57-65 


162-4 


)> 


45 


38 


L. 


30-3 


29 


xxxrv. 


11-13 


144-5 


liVI. 


1-56 


24-6 


»> 


49 „ 


14 


>^ 


76-9 


17 


XXXVI. 


12-28 


159-61 


LXI. 


6-9 


15-16 


xxxvn. 


97-1 I I 


72-3 


LXII. 


5 


41 


)» 


139-48 


146-7 


LXVII. 


1-4 


6 


xxxvin. 


20-4 


135-6 


>» 


6-8 


30 


?» 


29-39 


136-8 


LXTX 


13-37 


23-4 


») 


40-4 


93-4 


LXXT 


27-9 


56 


XXXIX. 


67-75 


28-9 


Lsxn. 


1,2,8 


-II 33 



CHAP, 


PAGE 


LXXIV. 1-7 


13 


LXXVI. 29-30 


32 


LXXXI. I-I4 


22-3 


Lxxxii. (entire) 


22 


Lxxxviir. 1-7 


23 


XCII. (entire) 


34-5 


xciii. (entire) 


13 


xovi. 1-6 


xliii 


xcix. (entire) 


21 


CI. (entire) 


21 


evil, (entire) 


35 


CXII. (entire) 


5 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Aaeon, los ff. 

'AbMs, Ibn-, 50. 

'Abdallah ibn TJbayy, Ix. 

'Abd-el-Muttalib, xxxvii, 73. 

Abel, 53. 

Aboo-Bekr, xIt, xlvii, Ivi, Ixxvii. 

Aboo-Pir&, xxix. 

Aboo-Lahab, li, lii. 

Aboo-T£llib, xsxviii, xlv, xlvii, xlix, 

1, m. 

Abraham, xxxii, 15, 47, 66-76. 

Abrogation of revelations, 19, 20, 38. 

j)Lbyssinia, flight to, xlvii. 

Ad, 60, 61. 

Adam, 47, 49-52, 164. 

Advent of Christ, second, 163. 

African converts, xcvii. 

Ahmad, prophecy of, 15. 

'Alisheh, liii, Ixix, Ixxiii. 

'Akabeh, pledges of the, Iv, Ivi. 

'Alee, xxxix, Ivi. 

Alldh Ta'^la, xxxiii. 

Alms, Ixxxiv, 36. 

Amnesty to Mekka, Ixvii. 

Anas, xli. 

Ancestry, pride of, xviii. 

Angels, 33, 49. 

Ans^r, lix, Ix. 

'Antarah, xxviii. 

Antichrist, 157, 163. 

Autioch, 159-16 1. 

Apostles, 14, 47, 156. 

Appearance of Mohammad, xl. 

Arab poetry, examples, xiv, xv, xvi, 
xvii, xviii, xix, xxix. 

Arabia, xi-xiii. 

Arabia, submission of, Ixvii. 

Arabs at Yethrib, liv. 

Arabs before IsUm, the, xi-xxxv ; 
their country, xi ; influence on 
their character, xii ; the Bedawee 



nature, xiii ; devotion to the clan, 
xiv ; honour, xv ; war and plun- 
der, xvi ; ferocity, xvi, xvii ; 
family pride, xviii ; pledge of pro- 
tection, xviii ; hospitality, xix ; 
Hdtim the ideal Arab, xix-xxii ; 
Arab poetry, xxii-xxiv ; the fair 
of 'Ok^dh, xxiv-xxvi ; women of 
Arabia, xxvi ; chivalry, xxvii, 
xxviii ; fathers and daughters, 
xxix ; town life, xxx ; Mekka, xxx; 
music and poetry at Mekka, xxxi ; 
dice and drink, xxxi ; the Kaabeh, 
xxxii ; religion of the early Arabs, 
xxxii; Christianity and Judaism 
in Arabia, xxxiv ; the Haneefs, 
xxxiv ; Zeyd ibn 'Amr, xxxv ; the 
change in the Arabs effected by 
Mohammad, xxxv. 

Aristocracy, hostility of, xlvii. 

Ark, 56, 57, 133. 

Asaf Solomon's wezeer, 142. 

Aws, Benee-, liv. 

Azar or Terah, 66. 

Babel, Tower of, 69. 
Bathsheba, 135. 
Bayard of IsUm, 1. 
Bedr, Ixv. 

Behd-ed-deen Zoheyr, xxiv. 
Believers and unbelievers, 38-43. 
Benjamin, 77, 84, 86-89. 
BiHl, the first Mueddin, xlv, xlvii. 
Bilkees, Queen of Sheba, 139-143. 
Birds and Solomon, 138-139. 
Book, the preserved, 17. 
Books, divine, 47-48. 
Byzantium, Emperor of, liviii. 

Cain, 53, 54. 
Caleb, 123. 



170 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Calf, the golden, ii8 ff. 
Camel of Mohammad, Ixvi. 
Camel of Thamood, 6i, 62. 
Camel-driver, Mohammad a, xxxix. 
CauBsin de Perceval, M. , xxii. 
Chivalry of ancient Arabs, xxvii, 

xxviii. 
Christ, 47, 149-165. 

divinity of, 154, 162-165. 

the Messiah, Ixi. 

the Word of God, Ixxxii, 165. 

supposed crucifixion of, 156, 

i6l. 

second advent of, 163. 

Christians, xxxiv, 38, 40, 42, 48, 

164. 
Clan feeling, xiv. 
Corruption of Christian and Jewish 

scriptures, 48. 
Cow, sacrifice of, 125-127. 

Datjqhtees of God, xxxiii, 9, 11, 33. 

Daughters, love of, xxix. 

David, 47, 134-136, 138. 

Davidean coats of mail, 135. 

Day of judgment, 21-31. 

Debtors, 37. 

Destiny, 32. 

Deutsch, Dr. Emanuel, xxiv, xl. 

Devils, 7, 31, 136, 137, 138. 

Dhaf^r, Christians of, xxxiv. 

Dhu-1-Karneyn, 63-65, 128. 

Dhu-1-Kifl, 47. 

Dice, xxxi. 

Disaffected party, Ix, Ixv. 

Divine books, 47-48. 

Divinity of Christ, 154, 162-165. 

Divinity of the Virgin, 162, 165. 

Drink, love of, xxxi. 

Eden, 51. 

Egypt, 79 ff. 

Egypt, plagues of, 1 12-1 14. 

Elias, 128. 

Embarcation formula, 57. 

Emeen, E1-, xl, xlv. 

Emeeneh, E1-, 137. 

Enoch, 47. 

Eve, SI. 

Evil eye, 85. 

Exodus, the, 1 14 ff. 

Ezekiel, lines from, xxx. 

Ezra, 148. 

Pais, sen 'Okiidh. 

Family pride of Arabs, xviii. 



Famine of Egypt, 83 ff. 

Panes, xxxiii. 

Past, Ixxxiv, 117. 

Fate, Ixxxi, 32. 

Fathers and daughters, xxix. 

Pffihah, 3. 

Fetishism, xxxiii. 

Fijir, war of the, xxxviii. 

Pirfe, Aboo-, xxix. 

Plight of Mohammad, Ivi, Ivii. 

Flight to Abyssinia, xlvii. 

Flood, 55-59. 

Forgery, Ixviiff., 19.'^ 

Gabriel, xliv, 72, 73, 78, iii, 152, 

161. 
God, 5-12. 

unity, profession of, 5. 

has no partners, 9, 11, 33, 154, 

162-165. 

the supreme, xxxiii. 

Mohammad's doctrine of, Ixxx. 

Goddesses, moon, xxxiii, xlviii. 
Gog and Magog, 64, 65. 
Golden calf, Il8ff. 
Goliath, 133, 134. 
Good for evil, 37. 
Gospel, 15, 47, 48, 149 ff. 
Greeting, 37. 

Haebeb, 159 ff. 
Haggadah, xliii, Ixi, Ixii. 
Hdm^n, 97, no. 
Haneefs, xxxiv. 
Hiishimees, xxxviii, 11, Iii. 
Hitim, xix-xxii. 
Hawtoeyoon, E1-, 156. 
Heber, 47, 160, 161. 
Hell, 21-31. 
Helpers, the, lix, li. 
Hijdz, xii. 
Hijreh, the, Ivii. 
Hir^, Mount, xliii. 
Honour, Arab, xv. 
Hood, 47, 60, 61. 
Hooreeyehs, 
Hospitality, Arab, xix. 
Howwi, 51. 
Hubal, xxxii. 
Humanity, Ixxxvi. 
Hypocrites, 31, 41. 
' Hypocrites, the,' Ix. 

Iblees, 31, 49, 50. 

Idols, xxxii, xlvi, Ixvi, 8, 11, 12, 30. 

Idrees, 47. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



171 



Ilyds, 128. 
ImSm, 74, 163. 
'Imrfin, 149. 
Infanticide, xxxii, 23. 
Inspiration, Ixxiv. 
Isaac, 47, 70-73. 
Ishmael, xxxii, 47, 72-73. 
Iskender, 63. 
Isldm, Ixxvii-xcix, 76. 

Jacob, 47, 70, 71, 77-92. 
Jann, E1-, or Iblees, 49. 
Jerusalem, Temple of, 145. 
Jeaus of Nazareth, see Christ. 
Jethro, 47, 95 ff. 

Jewish corruption of Scripture, 48. 
Jews, liv, Ixii-lxv, 38, 40, 41, 42, 48. 
Jinn, liii, 7, 9, 33, 136-138, 144, 145. 
Jinnee, Mohammad possessed by a, 

17. 

Ji'rineh, E1-, scene at, lix. 

Jol'. 93. 94- 

Jonah, 146, 147. 

Joodee, mountain of E1-, 58. 

Joseph, 77-92. 

Joseph and Zeleekha, 83. 

Joshua, 47, 123, 124, 127-129. 

Jndah, 77-79. 

Judaism in Arabia, xxxiv. 

Kaabeh, xxxii, 1 xxxiv, 74-75. 

Kaswd, E1-, Ixvi. 

Khadeejeh, xxxix, lii, liii, lxxi,lxxii. 

Khateeb-el-Ambiya, 95. 

Khazraj, Benee-, liv. 

Khidr, E1-, 47, 128-130. 

Khusru, the, Ixvii. 

Kitfeer, 79. 

Korah, 124, 125. 

Kudar ibn Siilif, 62. 

Kureysh, xxxvilf, xlv-lviii, Ixv-lxvii. 

Kar-^n, 4, 1 3-20, 47 ; state in which 
it was left by Mohammad, ci ; 
first revision, ci ; second revision, 
ci ; chaotic order, cii ; scientific 
arrangement of Noldeke, ciii ; 
characteristics of dififerent groups, 
civ J statistics, cvi. 

Lahab, Aboo-, li, lii. 
Lapwing and Solomon, 139. 
Lit, E1-, xxxiii. 
Lazarus, 155. 
Lion of God, 1. 
Lot, 47, 69, 70. 
Lyall, Mr. C. J., xv. 



Maekiages of Mohammad, xxxix, 
Ixxff. 

Martyrs for the faith, 30. 

Mary the Virgin, 149 ff. 

Mary, divinity of, 162, 165. 

Medina, Ivii, lis ff., Ixv, a«d see 
Tethrib. 

Mekka, xxx ff., Ixvii. 

MenSth, xxxiii. 

Messenger or apostle, 14. 

Messiah, see Christ. 

Metempsychosis, xxxiii. 

Midian, 95, 96, loi. 

Migrations of Muslims, xlvii, Ivii. 

Jli'riij, Iv. 

Misr, 88. 

Miracles or signs, 16, 17, 18, 52. 

Miriam (Maryam), 99, 105. 

Mohammad, 13-20, 47 ; his family, 
xxxvii ; childhood, xxxvii ; youth, 
xxxviii ; shepherding, xxxviii ; 
camel-driving, xxxix ; personal 
appearance, xl ; habits, xli, xlii ; 
solitary wanderings, xlii ; the call, 
xliii ; public appearance, xliv; first 
conversions, xlv ; address on Mount 
Es - Safi, xlvi ; preaching, xlvi; 
hostility of the aristocracy, xlvii ; 
torturing of slaves, xlvii ; emigra- 
tion to Abyssinia, xlvii ; speech 
to the Negus, xlviii ; persecution 
by Kureysh, xlviii ; compromise, 
xlviii; interview with Aboo-Tilib, 
xlix ; conversion of 'Omar and 
Hamzeh, 1 ; the ban of the Hdshi- 
mees, li ; its end, lii ; death of 
Aboo-Tilib and Khadeejeh, lii ; 
visit to Et - Tiif, liii ; pilgrims 
from Tethrib, liv ; state of parties 
at Yethrib, liv ; first pledge of the 
'Akabeb, Iv ; Yethrib and Mekka, 
Iv; the night journey, Iv; second 
pledge of the 'Akabeb, Ivi ; emi- 
gration of Muslims to Yethrib, 
Ivii; Mohammad's flight or Hij- 
reh, Ivii, Iviii; retrospect, Iviii; 
parties at Medina, lix ; the Ee- 
fugees. Helpers, Hypocrites, lix, 
Ix ; the Jews, Ixi ; are conciliated, 
Ixii ; but become hostile, Ixii ; 
their punishment, Ixiii-lxv ; war 
with the Kureysh, Ixv ; Bedr, 
Ohud, siege of Medina, truce, Ixv; 
the Muslims perform the Lesser 
Pilgrimage, Ixvi ; conquest of 
Mekka, Ixvii ; complete amnesty, 



172 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Ixvii ; submission of Arabia, Ixvii ; 
farewell pilgrimage and oration, 
Ixviii ; death, Ixix ; character, 
Ixix ; charges of cruelty, sensu- 
ality, insincerity, discussed, Ixx- 
Ixxvi. 

Mohammad, the illiterate or Gentile 
apostle, 122. 

Moon-goddesses, xxxiii, xlvii. 

Moses, 92, 97-131. 

Mosques or temples, 36. 

Mountain-worship, xxxiii. 

Mueddin, the first, xlv, xlvii. 

Muhfijiroon, Ix, Ixt. 

Munsifikoon, lix. 

Mus'ab, Iv. 

Mus'ab ibn Er-Eeiyiin, 97. 

Muslim, meaning of, 75. 

Muslim, the true, 43. 

Negko slaves, xlv, xlvii. 

Negus or Nejfehee, xli, xlvii, xlviii. 

Nejd, xii. 

Nejr^n, xxxiv, 164. 

Night journey, Iv. 

Uimrod, 66, 69, 70. 

Nineveh, 147. 

Noah, 47, 55-59. 

Nijldeke, ciii. 

Nun, 47. 

Ohud, battle of, Ixv, 32. 

'Okadh, fair of, xxiv-xxvi, xxxviii. 

'Omar, 1. 

'Oneyzeh, 62. 

Oration, farewell, Ixviii. 

Oratory among the Arabs, xxiv. 

'Othmdin, xlv. 

Oven of El-Koofeh, 37. 

'Ozeyr or Ezra, 148. 

Palmee, Prof. E. H., xxiv. 
Parables, 38-40. 
Paraclete, 15. 
Paradise, 21-31. 
Partners with God, 9, 11, 33. 
Parties at Medina, lix. 
Penates, xxxiii. 
Pentateuch, 47, 48. 
People of the Scripture, 38. 
Perceval, M. Caussin de, xxii. 
Person of Mohammad, xl. 
Pharaoh of Joseph, 81, 83. 
Pharaoh of Moses, 97 ff. 
Pilgrimage, Ixxxiv j lesser, Ixvi ; 
last, Ixviii. 



Pilgrims, xxxvii, liv. 
Pledges of the 'Akabeh, Iv, Ivi. 
Poetry, Arab, xxii-xxiv. 
Polygamy, Ixxxix-xcii. 
Potiphar, 79. 
Potiphar's wife, 79, 83. 
Prayer, Ixxxiii ; opening, cvi, 3 
Preaching of Mohammad, xlvi. 
Preceders, the, 25. 
Predestination, 32. 
Premonition, 4. 
Preserved book, the, 17. 
Pride of ancestry, xviii. 
Priests, xxxiii. 
Prophets, 47, 48. 
Protection, xviii.^ 
Psalms, 47, 48. 

Queen of Sheba, 139 fi. 

Kefugees, the, lix, li. 

Eeiydn, Er-, 81, 97. 

Eek'ah, 74. 

Eeligion of early Arabs, xxxii. 

Religion, true and false, 34-37. 

Resurrection, 21-31. 

Eeuel, see Sho'eyb. 

Eevelations, series of, 14, 47-48. 

Revelations, Mohammad's, c, 13. 

Sabians, 38, 48. 

Sabbath-breaking, 116. 

Sadakah, 62. 

Es-Saf^, xlvi, Ixvi. 

Safoora, 102. 

S^lih, 47, 61, 62. 

Siimiree Es-, 118 ff. 

Samuel, 133. 

Sarah, 71. 

Saul, 132. 

Seers, xxxiii. 

Sensuality of Mohammad, Ixx ff. 

Seth, 47. 

Sheba, Queen of, 139 ff. 

Shi-b or quarter, li. 

Shepherding, xxxviii. 

Sho'eyb, or Jethro, or Eeuel, 47, 

95 ff. 
Siddeek, Es-, xlv. 
Siege of Medina, Ixv. 
Sierra Leone, xcviii. 
Signs, see Miracles. 
Sincerity of Mohammad, Ixxii ff. 
Slaves, xlv, xlvii, Ixviii. 
Smith, Mr. E. Bosworth, xliii, 

Ixxxvii. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



173 



Sodom, 70 ff. 

Solomon, 136-145. 

Sons of God, 9, 11, 33, 154, 162- 

165. 
Soorah, the first, xliii. 
Soorah, the second, xliv. 
Soorahs, "forged," Ixxii. 

Table from heaven, the, 157- 

IS9- 
Tablet, the preserved, 1 7. 
Taif, Et-, liii, 74, 138. 
Talhah, xlv. 
Tdlib, see Aboo-TOlib. 
Terah, 66. 

Temples, xxxiii, 36, 145. 
Thamood, 61, 62. 
Throne-verse, 5. 
Thdr, Mount, Ivii. 
Torturing slaves, xlvii. 
Town-life in Arabia, xxx. 
Treating with Jews, Ixii. 
Tree-worship, xxxiii. 
Truce with Kureysh, Ixv, 



Ubatt, Ibn-, Ix. 
Umm-Gh^nim, 62. 
TJmejyeh, branch of, xxxviii. 
Unity, profession of the, 5. 
Uzzi, E1-, xxxiii. 

WaKAKAH, XXXV. 

Wars of Mohammad, xxxviii, Ixv. 
Weleed, El-,' 81, 97. 
Wives of Mohammad, Ixx ff. 
Wives, command as to, Ixviii. 
Women of Arabia, xxvii ff. 
Women in Paradise, 30. 

Yethbib, xxxvii, liv, Iv, Ivi, and 
see Medina. 

Zeleekha, 79, 83. 
Zemzem, xxxii, 73. 
Zeyd, xxxix. 
Zeyd ibn 'Amr, xxxr. 
Zeyd ibn Th^bit, ci. 
Zeyneb, Ixxii. 
Zipporah, 102. 



Ebratum. — P. ■iS, line i, for should read shall. 

P. 122, line 21, after illiterate add [or Gentile, i.e., Arab]. 



PRINTED BV BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
EDINBURGH AND LONDON 



A LIST OF THE WORKS 



EDWARD WILLIAM LANE. 



1. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern 

Egyptians. 

ist edition, 2 vols, royal i8mo (Kaight) . . . 1836 

2(1 edition. 2 vols, royal iSmo (S.D.U.K..) . . . 1837 

3d edition. 2 vols, demy 8vo (Knight) . . . 1842 

4tli edition. 3 vols. (Knight's Weekly Vols.) . . . 1846 
5th (standard) edition (ed. by E. Stanley Poole). 

I vol. medium 8vo (Murray) . . . i860 

„ (reprinted) 2 vols, double cr. i6mo (Murray) . . 1871 

2. The Thousand and One Nights. 

(In Monthly Parts. 1838-40.) 

1st edition. 3 vols, royal 8vo 1840 

2d edition (ed. by E. Stanley Poole). 3 vols, medium 

8vo 1859 



3. Selections from, the Kur-dn. 

ist edition, i vol. medium 8vo 1843 

2d edition (ed. by S. Lane Poole), i vol. crown 8vo . 1879 



( 2 ) 

4. Ueber die Lexicogrwphie der arabischen Sprache. 

(Zeitschr. d. D. M. G. iii. 90-108) 1849 

5. Ueber die Aussprache der arabischen Vocale und die 

Betonuiig der arabischen Worter. 

(Zeitschr. d. D. M. G. iv. 171-186) ..... 1850 

6. An Arabic-English Lexicon. 

Part 1 1863 

Part II . 1865 

Part III 1867 

Part IV 1872 

Part V 1874 

Part VI. (Ed. by S. Lane Poole) . . . .1877 
Parts VII. and VIII. and Supplement (Book II.). 
In preparation. 



The Life of Edward William Lane. 
By Stanley Lane Poole. 

I vol. medium 8vo • . • . 1 877 



,- s.•^i»ii^»;s»J\\\•^i\,•